![]() ![]() On the grounds of Washington Irving’s Sunnyside in Tarrytown, visitors can enjoy two special celebrations of the author’s most famous work: Home of the ‘Legend,’ during the day and dramatic evening performances of Irving’s ‘Legend.’ Blaze: Hudson Valley returns to its location at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson for the 18th year. “I don’t even eat anything orange,” she says.Get ready for a magical fall season in New York with The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze® and Legend of Sleepy Hollow-themed experiences. “I learned my lesson.”Īs for eating pumpkin in any shape or form, even pie, Bernstein is emphatic: no way. Last year, said Bernstein, she took a few seeds home and planted her own pumpkins. “When my grandson was four, he told guests to stay away from the candles,” she says. Proceeds will support the programs of Historic Hudson Valley.īernstein’s four grandchildren also get in on the act, helping to light the candles in the live pumpkins. Capacity has been limited to allow for social distancing, and everyone must wear masks. “I never thought I would be carving pumpkins full-time, but I love what I’m doing,” she says.īecause of COVID-19, all visitors to this year’s event must purchase a ticket in advance-there will be no tickets sold on site. In 2005, Bernstein was working as a historical interpreter at Van Cortland Manor, demonstrating how to hand-tie fishing nets, spin wool and make brooms, when she was invited to participate in a new fundraising event for Halloween. The farm also provides hay and corn stalks for the Blaze. They are grown on family-run Wallkill View Farm in New Paltz and shipped on nine flatbed trucks. The real pumpkins are of the Howden variety, traditionally used at Halloween. The job is usually done by a fleet of volunteers, but due to COVID-19, they will not be able to participate this year. This year, temporary workers will scoop and carve the live pumpkins, along with Historic Hudson Valley employees. These pumpkins must be replaced once a week and sometimes more often, depending on the weather-if it gets too hot, they rot more quickly. In addition to the art pumpkins, the Blaze uses 9,000 real pumpkins for ground displays over the show’s three-month run. The astronomically minded can visit the Pumpkin Planetarium for a pumpkin star show. Old favorites like the Pumpkin Carousel, Windmill and a 25-foot-tall Statue of Liberty are also on view. This year’s show features several new exhibits, including a fire truck and ambulance responding to a call, a Hansel and Gretel house, and witches stirring their brew. Each fall, Blaze visitors stroll a path through mountainous scenes constructed entirely of pumpkins. The fall event is organized by Historic Hudson Valley, a nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1951 as Sleepy Hollow Restorations by John D. She says she enjoys working on the finer, more intricate designs, such as Celtic knots, which she cuts out with an X-acto knife. And they will ooze goo on people.” The art pumpkins are supplied by a Colorado-based company called Fun-Kins, which uses molds cast from real pumpkins.īernstein, who majored in studio art at Queens College, has been carving foam pumpkins for the Blaze since its inception in 2005. “With anything intricate, we can’t use real pumpkins because they get soft and they’re too heavy,” Bernstein says. Art pumpkins are made from hard foam, and the Blaze uses a staggering 7,000 of them to create their extravagant displays. Bernstein says she carves a thousand new art pumpkins each year for the annual event, which is held at Van Cortland Manor in Croton-On-Hudson. Cheryl Bernstein is the only full-time art pumpkin carver for The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze -six other carvers are part-time or seasonal. ![]()
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