The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor

Last night, Laura and I had the good fortune of visiting “The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor.” I have seen this around and have always wanted to go, but never did.

I got some free tickets that allowed us in on either Thursday or Sunday nights. We chose Thursday because we thought things would be a little slower then. As it turned out, every half hour time slot was sold out, except for the 9PM one. You have to remember, they are marketing this event all the way down into Manhattan. With the tickets we had, it didn’t matter if the event was sold out, we were still able to go at any time.

We decided to try for the 7:30PM sliver. We drove down Rt.9 into Croton-on-Hudson. I have really only been in this area about six times in my life. It is all so foreign to me. Anyway, we made it to the event and parked in the Shoprite parking lot next door. We walked across the parking lot and entered the event. Things were busy, but not too much yet, which was nice.

So there we were, walking through the gates into about a million blazing pumpkins. I have to say, the setup was pretty nice. There were quite a few people, so the walking was kind of slow, but that gave us time to see what things were about. My nature is to bust through, take pictures and drive home. I was forced to relax. Also, I am not sure how Laura feels about her nights being rushed. She does know me well enough now to know what to expect. One word of warning to those people who want a less crowded evening…go to the later shows. The kids are probably in bed by that point.

I am just going to list the best pictures of the evening below. It was dark, so my camera didn’t do the best job, but Photoshop helped quite a bit.

This is the arch of pumpkins you walk through on your way up to the ticket people.

A pretty neat carving hanging from one of the trees.

These are both of the stone manor house at Van Cortlandt Manor. As you can see, the lights change color.

The rest of the photos are of what we saw during the walk through the grounds.

The whole walk probably takes between a half hour and forty five minutes. We had fun…just be careful, they funnel you through the gift shop at the end. So, if you have kids and you think they may want little trinkets that you aren’t interested in, be sure to shield their view.