Above: One of the many creepy scenes at Night Terrors Haunted Farm in Schoharie.
Halloween is this Saturday, Oct. 31, and the Catskills are celebrating with costume bashes, trick-or-treat events, zombies, witches and more. Here’s our five county guide to the best spooky events of the weekend.
DELAWARE COUNTY
In Andes, the annual Harvest Moon Ball is a Halloween tradition featuring a potluck, costume-contest and kid-friendly dance party that takes over the back room of the Andes Hotel every year. Saturday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m.
O’Neill’s Shire Pub in Delhi is hosting its Spook-Tacular Halloween Party on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. They’ll have DJ Pat hosting a costume contest with prizes for scariest, sexiest, best Couple, and funniest costumes.
On Friday, Oct. 30, the Castle of the Delaware in Walton hosts a “Take 2” Halloween Monster Mash Bash with live music and discounts on tickets for those who come in costume. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the concert starts at 7 p.m. The next night, Oct. 31, is the Castle's annual “Knight in the Castle” Halloween Costume Party and Dance, featuring live music from Blues Maneuver. Party starts at 7:30 p.m. and runs to midnight, and is only open to those over the age of 21.
Above: Zombies meet ziplines at Hunter Mountain.
GREENE COUNTY
Hunter Mountain in Hunter is making its zipline as terrifying as possible by adding zombies during the Zombie Hunter Wars. Come in costume for a ride you’ll never forget. Happening every night in October until 8 p.m. on weeknights and until 10 p.m. with live music and food on Fridays and Saturdays.
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill is taking a mellow approach and hosting “All Treats and No Tricks” from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31. Come on by for coffee, cider, cider donuts and--while supplies last--your very own teeny tiny pumpkin.
The Freehold Art Exchange invites one and all to revel at Piper and Molly’s Halloween Party in Freehold on Saturday, Oct. 31. Fun starts at 6 p.m. with grand tours of the facilities, “campy” Halloween games will be played at 7 p.m., and at 8 p.m., performances begin; they’ll include a poetic interpretation of Macbeth’s Weir Witches, live music, and belly dance, followed by a bonfire and dancing for all.
SCHOHARIE COUNTY
The Night Terrors Haunted Farm in Schoharie is hands-down one of the most terrifying haunted attractions in the entire state of New York. They’re offering their signature Haunted Harvest Hayride, Maze Mayhem and Berzerkus Circus, along with an immersive zombie hunt, every Friday and Saturday through October. The ticket booth is open from 7 p.m. through 10 p.m.
Cobleskill merchants invite you to trick-or-treat Main Street businesses on Friday, October 30, from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. Treats await those in costume.
The village of Schoharie will host “Trunk or Treat” on Main Street on Saturday, Oct. 31 from 5 pm to 7 pm. Get your costume on, fill that trunk with treats, and c’mon down.
At A Taste of Europe in Cobleskill, the Musicians of Ma'alwyck invite you to celebrate Halloween by unraveling the "Murder in C Major" with their merry misfits and maniacs. Can violent felons be cured by music? These folks will try, and Chef Jeannette Balins will be cooking. Reserving online is required; the event takes place Saturday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m.
Above: Costumes and beer come together at the Roscoe Beer Company.
SULLIVAN COUNTY
The Roscoe Beer Company is hosting a Halloween costume shindig in Roscoe from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29. They’ll have prizes, hors d’oeuvres and live music from Somerville; bring a non-perishable for the food pantry and get your first drink at half price.
On Friday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m., the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel will screen the horror classic The Exorcist. Pea soup memories, anyone? Guaranteed to spin your head around.
The next day, the Bethel Woods hosts Trick Or Treat At The Museum, Saturday Oct, 31 at 12 p.m. The bewitched museum will be peopled by witches and warlocks bearing tricks and treats for costume-clad visitors, and everyone gets a goodie bag at tour’s end. At 2 p.m. there will be a screening of the movie “Hocus Pocus,” about the mischief and mayhem that results when three 17th-century witches are accidentally conjured into modern-day Salem.
Liberty will host a Halloween parade on Saturday, Oct. 31. Meet at the Liberty Parks and Recreation Parking Lot at 11 a.m. There will be a costume contest, floats, cider donuts, and free Halloween bags for kids in costumes. Rock Hill will host “Trunk and Treat,” sponsored by the Business and Community Association, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31.
In Monticello, the wee ghoulies will be lining up to parade at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31 at the corner of St. John Street and Broadway. There will be a contest, a DJ dance party, floats and treats aplenty.
Jeffersonville will be trunk-or-treating in the park Saturday Oct. 31 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., when folks will line up for a Halloween parade down Main Street to the fire station.
The CAS Arts Center in Livingston Manor will be open late for trick-or-treating and “CAS by Candlelight,” an eerie evening gallery walk, on Saturday Oct. 31 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
And when the trunk or treating’s all done and the remnants of candy have been washed from sleepy little lips, you can come out and dance your happy little tail off at the Downtown Barn in Liberty, where they’ll be closing out the season with a Halloween dance party featuring Slam Allen. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and music starts around 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31.
Above: The Barn of Terror in Lake Katrine.
ULSTER COUNTY
It’s Halloween all month long at the Barn of Terror in Lake Katrine. This year, they tell us, the corn has a new master. if you dare to meet him, he’ll be receiving visitors on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 7 p.m. “until there are no bodies left.”
Haunted Huguenot Street is back in New Paltz, happening on Saturday, Oct. 31 from 7 to 10 p.m. You’ll visit the Jean Hasbrouck House and learn about the nightmares of a guilty young boy, proceed to the historic burial ground for an interpretation adapted from Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology during which the dead will speak for themselves, and visit the Deyo House mansion, where a housemaid is haunted by the ghost of the tragically demised Gertrude Deyo. Reservations are strongly advised.
On Friday, Oct. 30, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., join a practitioner of evidential mediumship at Mirabai in Woodstock and pierce the veil between the worlds in a heart-centered Halloween Message Circle. They do say that this is the most transparent time of year.
Inquiring Minds in New Paltz will celebrate the season with Dark Harvest: an Evening of Horror and Speculative Fiction, featuring a full slate of authors reading from their tales of horror and dark fantasy. Laird Barron, John Langan, Phoebe North, Nicole Quinn, Gabriel Squailia and Nicole Kornher Stace will all be on hand on Friday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.
Take a Ghost Walk through a haunted, historic Hurley and meet its disembodied residents--witches, the Headless Spook of Spook Hole, a hanged British spy, the “steeple gossips”--on Friday, Oct. 30. Tours start at 7 p.m.; make a reservation, bring a flashlight, dress for the weather, and leave the under-12 set at home.
The Woodstock Chamber Orchestra will present "Halloween with Music & Fun" on Friday, Oct. 30th. It’s a Halloween Pops concert for all ages. Wear a costume. The musicians will dress for the occasion, and grand prize winners of the costume contest get to try their hands at conducting. Meet the Instruments session begins at 6:15 p.m.; the concert starts at 7 p.m.
The Emerson Country Stores invite one and all to put on a costume and trick or treat in their elegant array of retail offerings in Mount Tremper on Saturday, Oct. 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Trick or Treat the Shops will feature magic, puppetry, pumpkin decorating and more; bearer of the most “boo-tiful” pumpkin gets a $50 gift certificate to the Toy Chest.
The Sixth Annual UlsterCorps Service Sprint and Zombie Escape will take off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31 at Williams Lake in Rosendale. There’s a 1K kids’ run, a 5K timed race and Zombie Escape, and a 1K fitness hike. Get through it with your brains intact and you’re a winner.
The youngest celebrants will love the Halloween Sing-a-Long and Parade taking place at the library in Esopus. Lots of fun, active Halloween songs and a parade of overpowering cuteness happening from 12:45 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31. Call 845-338-5580 for more info.
Above: Ghoulish entertainment comes to the Woodstock Playhouse on Saturday Oct. 31.
Main Street Rosendale will be joyously infested with spooks of all shapes and sizes as Rosendale Reclaims Halloween. Gather at the theatre for a rambling parade down to the Youth Center, where there will be a haunted house, cider press, funny psychic readings and whatever else the Dale deems amusing. Happening 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday Oct. 31.
A family-friendly haunting will be in progress in New Paltz during Trick-or-Treat on Huguenot Street from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 31, featuring a cast of colonial-era women, Revolutionary War soldiers, a Victorian-era socialite and her house maid, flappers from the Roaring Twenties, and other costumed interpreters. The entire street will be decorated, including a campfire, for an immersive Halloween experience.
Venture into the deep dark woods of High Falls for a Halloween Dance Party with Breakaway at the High Falls Café on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Costumes will be thoroughly celebrated and fondly judged.
Tarot, candy, costumes, a photo booth, prizes and “general bedlam” will be on offer at a Halloween party at the Peekamoose Restaurnt & Tap Room in Big Indian on Saturday, Oct. 31 from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m.
Ghoulish entertainment will fill the open air at the veranda of the Woodstock Playhouse in Woodstock, as performing artists bring their special brand of Halloween fun to the community. There will be Halloween treats & refreshments. Happening from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m on Saturday, Oct. 31. It’s free, and comes with a bonus sculpture exhibition.
On Saturday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m., come to Phoenicia and join the good folks of the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice for the Halloween-themed first event of their planned “Gatherings at 90 Main.” Don your costume and prepare to meet the “Villains and Witches of Opera” in the flesh.
Come on out to BSP Studios in Kingston and party with the cool ghouls of Chronogram and Output Agency LTD. as they conjure Nightmare on Wall Street 2, complete with DJ, haunted haus tarot fair, zombie makeup, a costume contest and a photo booth to memorialize it all. Doors open at 8 p.m., party starts at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31.
The genteel creepiness of a bygone era returns during a radio-style performance of “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 8 p.m.
