Trunk-or-treats and more Halloween events for kids
Tristan Tucker, 3, and Xavier Johnson, 4, both of Wyandanch, at last year’s inaugural Wyandanch Trunk-or-Treat. Credit: Latesha Walker
Halloween is now celebrated during the entire month of October, not just the 31st. Festivals, movies and trunk-or-treats fill the days leading up to the last-day-of-the-month grand finale. Here are some not-too-scary ways for families to enjoy the Halloween season on Long Island:
Spooky Fest
Spooky Fest returns to the Center for Science Teaching and Learning with a focus solely on family friendly attractions geared to children 12 and younger. In previous years, a “Scary Walk” had actors who interacted with guests. This year, that walk has been renamed “The Spooky Walk” instead, and the actors have been eliminated. “There are scenes that are a little bit scary, but no one will jump out at you,” says director Ray Ann Havasy. One of the scenes, for instance, is of Zombie robotic dinosaurs.
For the younger kids, the “Enchanted Not-Spooky Walk” features friendly Halloween characters including butterflies, a friendly ghost, a happy scarecrow and Cinderella’s carriage with live-actor prince and princess. Other activities include a kids’ arts and crafts area, a meet-and-greet with merry characters, fortune telling, kids DJ dance party and jugglers.
WHEN | WHERE 6 to 9:30 p.m. rain or shine outdoors on Oct. 28-30 at the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at Tanglewood Preserve, 1450 Tanglewood Rd., Rockville Centre, 516-764-0045, cstl.org/spooky-fest
COST Sold online only at $20 for non-spooky attractions only and $25 for spooky and non-spooky attractions. Children younger than 2 are free.
32nd Halloween Boat Burning
The 32nd Halloween Boat Burning is scheduled for Oct. 28, at the Long Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville, where the skeleton bones of a boat will become a giant bonfire. Credit: Long Island Maritime Museum/P. Gary O’Rourke
Each year, the Long Island Maritime Museum turns the skeleton of a wood boat into a giant bonfire; this year’s boat is the Balihai III, a 1957, 42-foot Matthews Stock Sedan Cruiser. “The boats that we burn, they’re beyond restoration, and they’re not safe to be used anymore,” says Terry Lister-Blitman, executive director of the museum. “In lieu of having a vessel go to a landfill, it’s better to honor the boat and give it that old-fashioned Viking funeral at the museum, give it a nice sendoff.”
The donated boat has all its engine and electronic parts removed, is inspected by local fire fighters prior to the bonfire, and is fenced off to keep everyone at a safe distance, Lister-Blitman says. A gourmet food truck and an ice cream truck are at the festival as well as musical entertainment; pets and coolers are not allowed. “When it’s fully dark, that’s when we light it,” Lister-Blitman says.
WHEN | WHERE 5 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Long Island Maritime Museum, 88 West Ave., West Sayville, 631-854-4974, limaritime.org
COST $5 per person, children 5 and younger are free.
Cinema for Kids: “Hotel Transylvania”
On the day before Halloween, take the kids to see the original “Hotel Transylvania” computer animated comedy starring Dracula at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington. Credit: Sony Pictures Animation
Dracula invites his best friends – Frankenstein, the Invisible Man and more – to the lavish, monsters-only Hotel Transylvania to celebrate his daughter Mavis’s 118th birthday. When an ordinary guy walks into the hotel, the party really starts. This 90-minute computer-animated comedy – the original in the “Hotel Transylvania” series -- is a 2012 oldie but goodie.
WHEN | WHERE Noon on Oct. 30 at the Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave., Huntington, 631-423-7610, cinemaartscentre.org
COST $12 adults, $5 children 12 or younger
Wyandanch Trunk-or-Treat
Multiple local groups came together last year in Wyandanch to offer a safe place for kids to trick-or-treat with grownups present; this is the second year for the event. Some people decorate their vehicle trunks, others use tables to give out candy. “The children and families had a ball,” says Latesha Walker, president and founder of the Concerned Citizens of Wyandanch Civic Association, one of the sponsors of the inaugural and 2022 event, which is open to all. Other organizations may also be holding local trunk-or-treat events across Long Island.
WHEN | WHERE 2 to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at Wyandanch Park, 81-99 Birch St., Wyandanch, 631-302-5963.
COST Free
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
