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The Great Pumpkin Blaze Is Back, Charlie Brown
By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 10, 2019
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 10, 2019
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Every year, The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze takes over the 18th-century Van Cortlandt Manor property in Croton-on-Hudson, out-shining any Halloween offering you'll find in the five boroughs. Past highlights have included the Pumpkin Zee Bridge, a moving carousel, a Phish tribute, and plenty of spooky skeletons. And really, the sheer amount of pumpkins on site is equally impressive to the creativity of each of these creations.
This year, there are more than 7,000 pumpkins, Historic Hudson Valley's Rob Schweitzer told Gothamist, with new additions like the immersive Headless Horseman Bridge (with sound, carvings, and light that suggest the Headless Horseman is coming up behind you), a Skeleton Dogwalker, Pumpkin Emojis, and a Museum of Pumpkin Art (MoPA) featuring gourdeous recreations of works like the Mona Lisa and Scream.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, there is also a huge Pride flag, and each jack o'lantern within is carved with "welcome" in different languages (including sign language).
Spooky skeleton dance
Schweitzer tells us they started carving the art pumpkins (which are carve-able artificial pumpkins) this summer, and the regular pumpkins about 10 days before the event started; they will continue to carve throughout the run of the event.
Blaze is open every night now through November 3rd (and after that, it's open November 8-10, 15-17, 22-23, and 29-30). The tickets range from $17 to $29 when purchased advance. (All proceeds go to the Historic Hudson Valley, a non-profit education organization.) To get there from NYC, it takes just about an hour to drive or to take MetroNorth (to the Croton-Harmon station).
Blaze is located at 525 S Riverside, Croton-on-Hudson. More details here.
Tagged
blaze
the blaze
halloween
hudson valley
pumpkins
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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