Halloween: Your Night to Howl

No place does Halloween like New York. You’ll find fun events throughout the state for revelers of all ages. But choose carefully. Activities range from kid-friendly parades and spooky train rides to terrifying haunted hayrides with professional actors who can scare the yell out of you. Here’s a few to get you startled:
 
New York City’s annual Village Halloween Parade is one of the largest in the nation. Set for October 31, Festivals International calls it "The Best Event in the World." Beginning in 1973 as a neighborhood walk for a Greenwich Village puppeteer’s children and friends, the parade now attracts more than two million spectators and over 50,000 participants: costumed marchers, puppeteers, bands and floats. Anyone who wants to march along can just put on a costume and enter the line-up on 6th Avenue between 6:30 and 8:30pm. Start making your costume now!
 
Some say the Headless Horseman still haunts the Hudson Valley. An hour north of New York City, Legend Weekends celebrate Washington Irving’s famous Halloween tale on October 17-18 and 24-25. Daytime events include music, magic and puppet shows at Sunnyside, Irving’s former home in Tarrytown, as well as pumpkin carving and spooky tales at nearby Philipsburg Manor. At night, the 18th-century manor becomes a haunted landscape lit by lanterns and bonfires. Wander the grounds while ghoulish apparitions come eerily to life and the Headless Horseman gallops by, as the Legend of Sleepy Hollow is reenacted.
 
Your evening can take a ghastly turn for the worse on Headless Horseman Hayrides in Ulster Park. Besides the mile-long hayride through the dark woods, there’s a sideshow, a corn maze and three haunted houses. Named the #1 Haunted Attraction in the country by Haunt World, and ranked in AOL’s Top 10, the evening hayrides are so scary that children age 5 and under are not permitted to attend. Believe us when we say “reservations” are recommended.
 
In the Central-Leatherstocking region, the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad’s Haunted Halloween Train offers spooky, kid-friendly fun. There are laughs and ghoulish treats on board for everyone who dares to take a ride through the wilderness of the Susquehanna River Valley. Trains depart on Fridays and Saturdays, October 23, 24, 30 and 31, from the historic depot in Milford.
 
In the Greater Niagara region, Becker Farms & Vizcarra Vineyards at Gasport celebrates Halloween every weekend in October. The daytime Pumpkin Fiesta is a great activity for kids age 12 and under. But strange happenings and eerie encounters take place in the Becker forests after dark: the haunted hayrides and spooky Castle Labyrinth have become favorite Halloween traditions for families with older children.
 
Go if you dare, but don't go alone!

Related Sites
Historic Hudson Valley
Haunted Houses, Halloween Attractions and Haunted Hayrides throughout New York
Frighteningly Fun: Hudson Valley’s Haunted Attractions Reviewed