Fairs, harvests and history dot the landscape.
In downtown Nyack they’re celebrating summer’s end with SeptemberFest 2012, September 9. Just head for the heart of the Village on Broadway and Main; you can’t miss the great food, live music, artisan crafts, jewelry and art, kids’ games and rides.
The Village of Suffern puts out the welcome mat on September 16 for its next Suffern Street Fair, a recurring celebration that fills the sidewalks with more than 100 venders, music and entertainment, and plenty to eat. Stop by and share the fun.
If you visit only one craft event this fall, make it Crafts at Lyndhurst. Among the nation’s finest outdoor craft festivals for three decades, it will showcase 275 crafters amid the pastoral grounds of historic Lyndhurst, just 20 miles north of Manhattan. Be inspired at this queen of craft festivals, September 21-23.
It takes more than one village to host the 8th Annual Aquefest, October 6. Stroll or cycle the Aqueduct Trail from Hastings to Dobbs Ferry to Irvington for a trail-long celebration of the Old Croton Aqueduct. All along the way you’ll find art and music, entertainment and activities at this free event.
Arts and crafts are a lifestyle in the hamlet of Sugar Loaf, Orange County. Nestled amid Warwick Valley’s orchards and farms is a thriving crafts center, home to 50 artisans. They’ve created a unique shopping village with galleries of watercolors, jewelry, fine pottery, clothing and leatherwork. Visit their Fall Festival, October 6-8, for music, food and fun.
There’s nothing like a candlelight tour to stir the imagination. Legends by Candlelight Spook Tours will surely reveal some ghosts by the flickering flames during its tour, and tales, of the museum and grounds at Clermont State Historic Site in Germantown, October 19-20 and 26-27. Reservations required, candles provided.
Gather wool at Dutchess County’s Sheep and Wool Festival, October 20-21 at the fairgrounds in Rhinebeck. If sheep shearing, dog herding, wool crafting and hearty fair food are your cup of tea, you’ll find plenty to enjoy, including a big farmers’ market.
Mere words can’t describe The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze, returning this autumn to mysterious Van Cortlandt Manor, Croton-on-Hudson. See thousands of glowing, hand-carved jack o’ lanterns in a dizzying walk-through journey elaborately staged with music, lights and sounds as pumpkin ghosts swoop past the lantern-lit path. Open 24 evenings including Halloween.
Like to be seriously scared? Where better than Sleepy Hollow, New York? On 11 evenings in October, Horseman’s Hollow takes The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to its darkest extremes, transforming Philipsburg Manor into a terrifying landscape where creatures stalk the shadows. Elaborate costumes and effects make this nightmare all-too-real so leave the kids and scaredy cats at home.
Getting in the Halloween mood? Scare up some friends and head to Kevin McCurdy’s Haunted Mansion near Poughkeepsie’s Bowdoin Park, voted “most interactive haunted attraction in the nation.” Face your deepest fears along the original Haunted Trail and don’t let attractions with names like FrighTrail, Evil Within and the Museum of Un-natural History frighten you away. You’re almost guaranteed to survive.
For more travel ideas, visit Hudson Valley region.