As I shared in my NYC Fall bucket list, the Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze up in the Hudson Valley has been on my list for a few years now! Just about an hour outside of the city, you can find this larger-than-life outdoor pumpkin art display.
The display is absolutely breathtaking. It included incredible pumpkin sculptures of the Statue of Liberty, Unicorns, Dinosaurs, a working Carousel, and crazy detailed replicas of the Mona Lisa, Jackson Pollock and Starry Night. Every element of the display was truly worth every cent of the ticket ($23) and the hour-long trip from the city.
The trip out to the Hudson Valley is WAY easier than I originally anticipated. All you have to do is take the Metro-North to the Croton-Harmon station, which is only about an hour or so. We picked up a dozen White Claw before boarding the train and had a very enjoyable ride. 😂 Once you arrive at the station, there are signs directing you to the ‘Pumpkin Blaze‘ everywhere. The walk is only about 10-15 minutes, but we saw a few people taking Lyfts/Ubers if that is more your speed.
After arriving at the train station, we walked over to a pizzeria close by called Pronto Pizzeria. It was super casual, walkable from the train station and in the same parking lot as the entrance to the Blaze, making it a perfect choice. You can only enter the Blaze 30 minutes before your scheduled ‘show-time,’ so getting dinner/eating outside of the Blaze helps elongate the night a bit if you want to make a night out of it.
Once you enter the event, there is an area where you can pick up various different sandwiches, beers, and treats. Since we ate dinner before entering, we got a Pumpkin Ale to walk around the display with (they also had Oktoberfest beer and hard cider) and grabbed a half-dozen Apple Cider and Pumpkin doughnuts.
The experience was absolutely amazing! I can definitely see us making this a tradition and going back for years to come. However, if you are hoping to get a bunch of insta-worthy shots like I was, I’m sad to say you’re out of luck. It was SUPER hard to get a good shot with the dark lighting and crowds. They definitely control for over-crowdedness, so no matter when you go, you’ll have a blast. BUT if you are trying to get some great shots, I recommend a later showtime (maybe 10-10:30p) to avoid the crowds.
