Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Spooky Nighttime Adventures
Posted in Programs and Events on October 23 2013, by Matt Newman
With Halloween looming at the end of this month’s calendar (and on a Thursday of all days—what gives?), we’re not about to pass up any opportunities to celebrate the tricks and treats that come once each fall. So this weekend, on both Friday and Saturday nights, we’re doing the holiday of ghouls, ghosts, and goblins proud with the final two evenings of Spooky Nighttime Adventures. It might be the last chance for your kids to scare up the night without having to worry about rolling out of bed for school the next day!
Seeing as we seldom open the gates after dark for a night of creeping about under the trees, we encourage kids of all ages to break out their costumes and dress for the occasion. They’ll start the Haunted Pumpkin Garden festivities by picking up a treat bag to decorate near our Reflecting Pool while Lucrecia Novoa’s fantastical costumed entertainers keep things lively around the Visitor Center. Afterwards, head out onto the Trick-or-Treat Trail for some well-earned edible rewards, or take part in any number of creepy crawly activities in the Discovery Center and elsewhere: digging for decomposers, dissecting owl pellets, calling for the creatures of the night, decorating gourds to take home, and other hands-on fun.
Read More
Posted in Programs and Events on October 8 2013, by Ann Rafalko
It’s October, which means it’s time for pumpkin everything, leaf peeping, and spooky good times, and we can promise you all three at NYBG!
Beginning the weekend of October 18, explore the Garden after dark on four special Spooky Nighttime Adventures in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden. Use all your senses to explore what happens in the dark. Listen for creepy critters in the leaf litter, thrill to the entertainers greeting you in the Visitor’s Center, decorate your own Halloween gourd to take home, and so much more!
Kids of all ages are encouraged to come in costume to really get into the spirit of the season! Spooky Nighttime Adventures have timed entrances at 6:30 and 7 p.m. on Friday, October 18; Saturday, October 19; Friday, October 25; and Saturday, October 26. If you’re looking to get the party started early, MasterCard cardholders can access special, early entrance tickets that include treats and an exploration of carnivorous plants. Why carnivorous plants? We thought you’d never ask!
Read More
Posted in Programs and Events on July 29 2013, by Matt Newman
This week, we’re joining ConEdison as a supporting partner in their Plug Into Summer Fun contest, an opportunity for you and your friends to win daily prizes at locations around New York City. Better yet, we’re the Grand Prize Partner this week! If you missed out on any of our recent evening activities, such as Sunday’s Family Dinner with Mario Batali’s Chefs or our last Wild Medicine Cocktail Evening, this is your chance to laugh all the way to the bank with free trips to our upcoming events. Pair that with tickets to one of our Halloween adventures in October, and you’re staring down a prize worth $600! Considering you could easily enter this contest while lying on your couch, the cost/benefit tally is definitely leaning in your favor.
Being the weekly grand prize partner has its perks, too—you don’t have to wait until the end of the week to enter, for one. You can enter up to three times a day from now through Friday, August 2, to give yourself the best possible chance of taking home the reward. And because each entry also puts you in the running for the daily prizes offered by ConEd’s other partners, there are plenty of chances to land some winnings. All told, the contest is offering 36 prizes in total and runs until August 23!
Read More
Posted in Around the Garden on October 25 2012, by Matt Newman
Elbow deep in a mound of pumpkin guts, wrenching out the last of that stringy pulp you’ll spend the next day fishing out of your hair? Probably not the best time to ponder the history of the jack o’ lantern. But once your squashy horror is grinning from your porch, peering out the kitchen window, or waiting for some hooligan or other to smash it on the driveway, take a moment and think: who actually came up with this bizarre Halloween tradition? While the NYBG is rolling out its own orange horrors courtesy of Ray Villafane, carving out this story means hopping a boat across the Atlantic to greener pastures, a place older and somewhat more partial to ghost stories (and dark, delicious stouts) than the United States.
If you guessed Ireland, you’ve got the pumpkin pegged. Or should I say turnip? As historical records tell it (there are still plenty of arguments on who inspired what), the holiday tradition of carving up starchy vegetables dates back generations in Ireland. But there was no train of cargo ships itching to haul the North American pumpkin to the shores of the Emerald Isle, as I’m sure you can gather. Instead, the Irish hollowed out their local root vegetables, adorned them with frightful faces, and lit them with embers or candles, a fall tradition brought out during Samhain–or “Sawin,” a fanciful celebration to mark the end of the fall harvest and the beginning of winter in the British Isles.
Read More
Posted in Programs and Events on October 16 2012, by Matt Newman
No luck digging up your skeletons before sundown, or devils at dusk? You know it’s called “All Hallow’s Eve” for a reason! At The New York Botanical Garden, we’re all about the value of a good after-dark scream, and we’re not going to let New Yorkers go wanting when it comes to finding one. Join us weekends throughout the tail end of October for “Spooky Nighttime Adventures,” a safe opportunity for you and your kids to scare out the ghosts and goblins of the city when they’re meant to be seen. How often do you get to see the Garden in the light of the moon, anyway?
While our evening events and activities are put together for children ages five to 12, kids at heart are more than welcome to join us. We’ll be decorating treat bags near the Reflecting Pool and sniffing out sweet treats along the Whole Foods Market Trick-or-Treat Trail. We’ve got a few bones to pick at the Discovery Center as we Frankenstein our way through some owl pellets, or you can suss out what sort of creepy crawlies slither in the dank, dark world under a forest log. Try your hand at calling for owls at the Boulders, discover the many secretive creatures of the night, or, if your nerve is steeled, take a peek at Ray Villafane’s ghastly pumpkin sculptures; a jack o’ lantern may be a funny fruit in the light of day, but turn on the shadows for a fright larger than life!
Read More
With Halloween looming at the end of this month’s calendar (and on a Thursday of all days—what gives?), we’re not about to pass up any opportunities to celebrate the tricks and treats that come once each fall. So this weekend, on both Friday and Saturday nights, we’re doing the holiday of ghouls, ghosts, and goblins proud with the final two evenings of Spooky Nighttime Adventures. It might be the last chance for your kids to scare up the night without having to worry about rolling out of bed for school the next day!
