Halloween Night at Jack O’ Lantern Blaze

We celebrated our 2017 Halloween night at Jack O’ Lantern Blaze. It was a clear but cold evening, with an all but full moon in the sky. After visiting Mom at 8:50 pm, we went on 9A, and chose the exit for Harmon Station. We had to stop hard well before the exit, for there was a longest line of vehicles ever seen, waiting for the right turn to go to the blaze. Five minutes’ motionless wait later, Paul decidedly pulled our car out of the waiting queue, and raced to the next exit. He used the local route and ShopRite parking lot to be not only on time, but five minutes earlier than our 8:30 entrance time.

Once inside, we were delighted to greet our old friends of the Headless Horseman, dragon, mushrooms and sunflowers. There was an endless throng of visitors, many of whom were dressed in Halloween costumes, such as a family of skunks, owls, or fully decked female Michael Jacksons. As if echoing to the public desire’s to return to animals, the blaze featured and introduced variously carved nocturnals, such as bats, opossums, and rats carved out of pumpkins, in addition to long standing animals like cats, snakes, spiders, dinosaurs, or favorite world of the dead, e.g., Washington Irving and other early settlers, tombstones, ghosts, vampires and zombies. 

We were also treated with a series of new programs like a moving train of circus animals. According to one of the posters, Westchester County is the earliest place to start circus animals in America, with an elephant as its first actor. The Statue of Liberty is another new addition, raising visitors pride as well as patriotism to be an American, especially on the very day of lower-Manhattan’s terrorist attack. 

One greeter told us that 10,000 pumpkins were used for the blaze. Several companies were contracted to work on the project since the month of May. We were so delighted to learn that the blaze’s group of four pumpkin carvings won USA 2016 special post stamps. 

The feast of pumpkins made us forget both time and ourselves. It was closing time, past 10:00pm. We left the blaze, with an almost full chip on Paul’s camera.