The Great Jack ‘O’ Lantern Blaze (A Photo Story)
What is It?
The Great Jack ‘O’ Lantern Blaze is a Halloween festival in Pocantico Hills, NY in the Hudson Valley. With over 7,000 pumpkins arranged in light up displays, the event will be sure to wow you!
And with the event lacking some of the more traditional Halloween features, such as “scary” costumes, it is the perfect event to attend with children!
The event takes place at the Van Cortlandt Manor residence, a historic home that once housed a patriot family in the years following the American Revolution. The home can be toured in the daylight hours (currently closed due to the pandemic).
The event contains many display arrangements, including the Museum of Pumpkin Art, Pumpkin Carousel, fire truck and ambulance, pumpkin windmill, headless horse bridge, statue of liberty, and see the Van Cortlandt Manor aglow!
Hours
The event takes place in October through mid November.
The event has scheduled entry times between 5pm to 10pm and are very limited this year due to COVID-19.
How Long Do You Need?
A walk through the blaze typically takes an hour to an hour and a half.
Fees
Ticket prices start at $24 and range upward to about $50, depending on the time and day of the week. Be aware, prices are higher this year due to reduced capacity.
Photo Story of the Great Jack ‘O’ Lantern Blaze
The event includes a one way path through the area, taking you past many bright, lite up displays along with a colorful light show and sounds/music.
The first display we saw was the welcome flag outside the entrance that was light up with the words Hello in 48 different languages.
After passing through the entrance arch, we first came across many single carved pumpkins and pumpkin skeleton displays.
We then came across a replica of the Tappan Zee Bridge and were able to walk across it!
Continuing on we came across many displays of celtic knots. Throughout the walk we found informational signs explaining the carvings and displays.
The next stop was the Museum of Pumpkin Art. The artwork was quite amazing and included replicas of famous paintings, including the Mona Lisa and Starry Night.
The dragon was next, and actually blew smoke out of its mouth every so often!
Across from the dragon were displays honoring EMT’s and firefighters, as well as a who let the dogs out scene.
The next display was one of my favorite-the Pumpkin Planetarium.
On the other side of the planetarium was a pumpkin emoji wall and moving carousel.
Across from the Carousel was a witch display, complete with sound effects.
Past this we came across the headless horseman pumpkin display with a pumpkin lit path. We were not able to walk along the path, but it was a beauty to look at!
The next display was the zodiac signs wall, which featured carvings from each of the zodiac signs.
After this we walked along the path through multiple displays, including a unicorn, statue of liberty, spider web, and dinosaurs before coming upon the Van Cortlandt Manor.
The final major display was the Van Cortlandt Manor, which was lite up with a light and sound show.
To the left of the manor was a group of scarecrows and sunflowers.
Following the manor we continued along the final path past a moving wind mill, the headless horeseman bridge, and many skeleton displays and single carved pumpkins.
On the way to the exit there is a small gift shop with some cool pumpkin items you can buy, such as t-shirts, light up bracelets, and pumpkin emoji magnets.
Looking for more to do in the area? Visit nearby Sleepy Hollow!
About Me
I’m Melissa, but you can call me Missy. I continuously crave a new adventure and love sharing those adventures with you! My sidekick is my 5 year old daughter. Together we are conquering the world, one city at a time! Find family travel tips and guides that will help you plan your next adventure!
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This is SO cool! I love Halloween so I’d absolutely love to visit the Great Jack O Lantern Blaze!
This may be one of the coolest Halloween attractions I have ever seen! My children would go crazy if I took them here. The carved pumpkins are truly a work of art. Tickets for this attraction are also very affordable and you are really getting a bang for your buck! Thank you for sharing this location as I will be looking into taking a trip here!
I have never seen anything like the Jack O Lantern Blaze. I am sure it would wow me. I love how creative they have been with using pumpkins as art. The Celtic carvings certainly put my pumpkin carving to shame! I just loved the sunflower carvings. I will save this for when we can get over the border one fall!
Great Jack ‘O’ Lantern Blaze – This is something that I have heard about for the first time and I am wowed with the pictures. The carvings are so amazing. Loved Monalisa’ in a new avatar and the celtic knots take creativity to next level. The Pumpkin Planetarium deserves to be the favorite.
OMG! That is definitely crazy. To begin with I thought they’re just lights and then after reading I realized they are pumpkins! OMG. I’ve really never seen anything like this. Thanks for the tip about the different prices. Its better to check it all before buying the ticket. Pumpkins arranged as skeletons, lanterns, bridges… Wow! Those celtic knots are awesome. Monalisa in pumpkin art???? Its unbelievable….
This is my first article about halloween stuff from the year, how fun! These guys really found fun and unique ways to display all of the pumpkins, but my favorite part is definitely the welcome flag. Those guys truly are artists
Oh my goodness! This looks absolutely incredible!! I’ve never seen anything like this before and now I need to go! I live in England but let me just add this to my bucket list!
Kirstin
http://LetsGoSomewhereElse.co.uk
Wow! This is a beautiful way to display the jack-o-lanterns. It is quite refreshing to see something magical instead of something scary. The prices are reasonable and we hope to visit in the future.
Wow! This is really cool! Are those real pumpkins? It’s hard to pick which one can be my favorite, because everything looks amazing! Spider web and spider are spooky though. I wish we have one like this around.
I never heard of this and as I love lights then the Great Jack ‘O’ Lantern Blaze really looks stunning and must visit for me. I loved the celtic knots lighting and carvings on lanterns. It is really amazing to see so many patterned lightings here. Illuminated Zodiac signs and pumpkin planetarium too looks very interesting. Thanks for sharing something very unique thing to do during fall.
Such amazing pictures. And a very interesting festival indeed. Loved the creativity that you have captured. I admit that I have never seen such a variety of light and pumpkin art. I would definitely love to visit here and capture it on my own. Good tips on the pricing