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Hal­loween in the Har­bor: Pump­kin Point, Trick or Treat­ing and Night of 1,000 Jack O’Lanterns Return to Gov­er­nors Island this October

Oct 1, 2019 3:47 pm

Octo­ber 1, 2019. Gov­er­nors Island today announced its line­up of fall and Hal­loween-relat­ed pro­gram­ming for Octo­ber. Just in time for fall, Gov­er­nors Island’s his­toric dis­trict will trans­form dur­ing the last two week­ends of Octo­ber with Pump­kin Point, a free, fam­i­ly-friend­ly patch of over 5,000 pump­kins open­ing Octo­ber 19 in his­toric Nolan Park.Lighting up Colonels Row evenings Octo­ber 17 – 20 and Octo­ber 24 – 27, Night of 1,000 Jack O’Lanterns will bring back a spec­tac­u­lar tick­et­ed night­time event fea­tur­ing over a thou­sand hand-carved and illu­mi­nat­ed jack o’lanterns. And on Sat­ur­day after­noon, Octo­ber 26, young vis­i­tors and their fam­i­lies are invit­ed to come in cos­tume for free Trick or Treat­ing at Nolan Park’s his­toric for­mer offi­cers’ homes.

“The fall sea­son is just as vibrant as the sum­mer on Gov­er­nors Island,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We invite New York­ers and vis­i­tors alike to take a short fer­ry ride and expe­ri­ence the col­or­ful fall foliage, sea­son­al pro­grams for all ages, and all that Gov­er­nors Island has to offer through Octo­ber 31.”

Locat­ed in his­toric Nolan Park, Pump­kin Point will bring over 5,000 pump­kins of all shapes and sizes to Gov­er­nors Island, trans­form­ing the idyl­lic set­ting along with its nat­u­ral­ly stun­ning fall foliage into a delight­ful­ly autum­nal escape dur­ing the last two week­ends of Octo­ber. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to stroll through the pump­kin patch and pur­chase their own pump­kins, while enjoy­ing free, Hal­loween-inspired arts and craft activ­i­ties with Children’s Muse­um of the Arts, includ­ing pump­kin paint­ing and a cos­tume design work­shop. Gov­er­nors Island’s own Lit­tle Eva’s will offer a menu of sea­son­al­ly inspired food and bev­er­ages, with Threes Brew­ing host­ing a pop up bar serv­ing their tasty craft brews. 

Pump­kin Point will be open Octo­ber 19 – 20 and Octo­ber 26 – 27, 10 AM‑6 PM. Pump­kins will also be avail­able for pur­chase Thurs­day, Octo­ber 24 and Fri­day, Octo­ber 25, 10 AM‑5 PM. 

“Gov­er­nors Island gives New York­ers the chance to expe­ri­ence a true ​‘small town Hal­loween’ feel­ing with­out leav­ing the big city,” said Mer­ritt Birn­baum, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Every­one is invit­ed to our car-free oasis to crunch through the autumn leaves, go trick-or-treat­ing at our front porch­es, and pick out the per­fect pump­kin to take home.”

As part of Pump­kin Point, Gov­er­nors Island will once again host free Trick-or-Treat­ing on Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 26. Begin­ning at 1 PM, young vis­i­tors and their fam­i­lies are encour­aged to come in cos­tume and join the Island’s dozens of arts and cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions in Nolan Park to receive free treats. Trick-or-Treat­ing will be first come, first serve and will last through­out the after­noon until sup­plies run out. Blaz­ing Sad­dles will also offer free can­dy for Trick-or-Treaters at its Liggett Ter­race loca­tion that day.

This year’s Pump­kin Point and Trick-or-Treat­ing events are co-pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. Gen­er­ous sup­port for the events is pro­vid­ed by Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies. Any pump­kins left over from Pump­kin Point will be baked into pump­kin pies and donat­ed to The Bow­ery Mis­sion, which serves home­less and hun­gry New York­ers, or com­post­ed on Gov­er­nors Island by Earth Mat­ter, which runs the Island’s Com­post Learn­ing Center.

Con­tin­u­ing the Hal­loween fun into evenings in Octo­ber, Night of 1,000 Jack O’Lanterns will return to Gov­er­nors Island for the first time since 2017, bring­ing more intri­cate­ly carved and paint­ed pump­kins than ever before to his­toric Colonels Row. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to expe­ri­ence the Island after dark between Octo­ber 17 – 20 and Octo­ber 24 – 27 to enjoy a dis­play of one thou­sand pump­kins designed by mas­ter carvers and illu­mi­nat­ed for night­time view­ing. Pre­sent­ed by RISE of the Jack O’Lanterns, Night of 1,000 Jack O’Lanterns also fea­tures live carv­ing demon­stra­tions and makes for a per­fect, fam­i­ly-friend­ly fall out­ing. Advance tick­ets are required. For more infor­ma­tion and to pur­chase tick­ets, please vis­it www​.therise​.org.