Washingtonville Sees Ten-Year Event Dream Come True at Witchingtonville. Plus "The Vikings Were There~"
Updated: 1 hour ago
Guilty Pleasures at 1 Depot Street,
the Entrance to Witchingtonville 2026
Patrick Maiorino greeting one of Guilty Pleasures' new guests where the evening promised Spirits, mysterious encounters, a night to remember and Monster Munchies at the Outdoor Cafe.
Dragon Viking Ship. near the entrance
For the Ladies, a Knight in shining armor
For the past 10 years the Village of Washingtonville has prayed for a way to boost foot traffic and business like other popular 'Foothills of the Catskills' venues. Its Annual Parade programs bring thousands and are the talk of the Lower Hudson Valley. But because of the relatively narrow streets in the Village Center most other popular events have been held at Vern Allen Park several miles North on Route 94. They are awesome, but they still don't boost foot traffic at the downtown businesses as much as the Village would like. Well, this week that all changed. Somehow the Washingtonville Event Committee "went rogue" (in a good way) and reinvented the entire Village Center to be one glorious enormous Event for one of the most popular Village local holidays of the year - Witchingtonville.
There was ample parking at the Middle and High Schools and a Shuttle Bus gladly transported anyone for free, not only to and from Village Center but also to a popular "Haunted Firehouse" event in Salisbury Mills. Those of us who started the evening took the ride there, and then came back to Depot Street and were STUNNED to see that East Main Street/Route 94 looked more like Broadway in New York City than the quiet historic village we usually drive through. And, despite the thousands of people, the Police and Highway Department were able to keep the road open and traffic moving well all evening, thanks to a lot of advance notice to area drivers. So, the question of "Can a primary historic intersection road safely and successfully become an essential part of a massive country Holiday Tourism Attraction." YOU BET!
The First stop in Witchingtonville was 1 Depot Street, Patrick and Justine's newly owned Guilty Pleasures site at the entrance to both May's Field and Fulton Square. Smoke poured (on purpose) from the newly appointed New York State Historic Building giving the needed ambiance of excitement plus a little fear since the building had a very serious real fire a few years ago. The grand Witchingtonville layout across numerous integrated properties was just what was needed for a Halloween event, and it was continued across East Main Street in McLoughlin Square. Inside of Guilty Pleasures the beautifully newly decorated and renovated building has already begun a thriving business
with occasional specialty events upstairs (like the video story of the Moffat Family presented by Village Historian Jeanne Versweyveld). There was a spacious outdoor cafe set up that was just enough ''in the middle of things' and yet had sufficient privacy. The cafe served Halloween Monster Munchies and other scrumptious goodies.
Next, in the central open area were a couple dozen venues of craft and country art sales. Every so often there was a clippity-clop along Depot Street when Alanna Bodman of Celtic Pleasures was passing by with guests for a Horse & Carriage Ride, or stopping to let some very young pony fan get brave enough to pet him.
Alanna Bodman of Celtic Carriage clip-clopping through the night, making passengers really feel they were entering a Witchingtonville
Young fans built up the courage to approach and give this very well behaved
pony some pats and scritches.
At Amada's
En Dia de los Muertos
Throughout the evening music and dancers meandered between Amada's Kitchen's Grand En Dia de los Muertos Event next door at Fulton Square, and the other Witchingtonville venues..This is a special day when those who have lost a dear loved one believe they have a chance for a Spiritual Reconnection, celebration and dancing.
This "Day of the Dead" event offered a view into a cultural "phenom" that is 3,000 years old, dating back to early Aztec and Spanish civilizations, now celebrated primarily in Mexico and Mexican-American communities and several border South American countries. It's a day when celebrants believe that those family members and friends who have passed can spiritually come back and be with them. And this, of course, this is what brings the tremendous joy of the event.
REN FAIRE - KINGDOM OF ACRE
A new "Viking Beer Garden" at just about the center of all the activity was a big hit as a popular spot to rest and have a beer with a friend. It had a beautiful big blue arch designed at the restricted entrance where a couple of friendly police officers occasionally had to tell underage young boys that "Sorry, you have to wait another couple of years before you can go in there."
Beer Garden - Yes please!
And what a great view (below) from the
Beer Garden to the rest of the Park
Stamp making is one of the Viking craft
skills that SKA and the Kingdom of Acre offer.
How cool would that be...making your very own Personal Seal!
Of course the Witchingtonville Event Program included some exceptional new enticements - Number One being the Ren Fair Viking Group "Kingdom of Acre/SCA" who magically got permission to do hatchet throws and jousting on the hallowed grounds of the Town's May's Field (which generally is restricted to some very popular and talented young baseball teams). Actually there was nary a footfall left on the grassy fields, and the Police Department set up cyclone safety fencing around the perimeter so that any errant axe flying through the air had nothing to hit but the target, the air, or the ground. Ren Fair is offered by Kingdom of Acre/SCA (the acronym standing in for Scandanavian), and not only did they offer Viking Challenges, they have a dozen other program offerings including History Booths, Stamp Making, Bakery, Rune Readings and and more... from which they are expected to choose when they return in warmer weather. Meanwhile the entire "Witchingtonville Park" area was adorned with some rather stunning Viking Art. There was an amazing Viking Ship at the entrance, a truly spectacular Giant Dragon, Armor Shields, and several quite scary animatronic creatures peering and shouting ghost and goblin-like laughter at visitors around unexpected corners. What could be more fun than watching a slight but athletic lady wielding a battle sword at an armored Knight on his knees.
It sure looks like this lady is having the most fun ever!
Girls just havin' fun at the Ren Faire
Well it IS Witchingtonville, what did you expect?
Event Central Area
One of the dozens of craft booths
Tacos y Mas had the famous mean Bucking Mechanical Bull staged for T r o u b l e. Wannabe bull riders would hop on, and at first it all seemed so easy. Then the bull went a little up and down. Then started spinning. And THEN it went faster and faster until one after another of the riders went flying onto a well-padded landing.
An off-duty Police Officer did quite well on the Randy Bull, until he went REALLY fast, and then he too went flying off to a soft landing and lots of laughter.
One of the most fun viewing areas was a couple of enormous trampolines. Several girls took turns leaping astoundingly high, and one of them did numerous flips and maneuvers that she had apparently learned in a gymnastics classes. The smile on her face tells it all. And she stayed standing by to urge the next trampoline jumper to "Come on, jump over backwards, you can do it!"
The girls were very safely secured in protective harnesses.
Meanwhile some young boys were learning skills of climbing
while building courage and improving tolerance of a little fear.
The Witchingtonville Day, which began with a "Trunk or Treat" for the Littles earlier in the day endeded at 10 pm with tired but happy Witchingtonvillian Adventurers happily sharing their thoughts about this new Middle of the Village layout. And all of the comments were complimentary. What could be better than a dream for the Village to be bustling like Broadway NYC and then than hearing people the next day say "Wow, that was some event yesterday", and continuing to chat and smile about the Town and Village that they love.
Washingtonville's new and much improved Community Event Page has tons of both pictures and video's of the day and evening (including the children's Trunk or Treat, and while a picture is worth a thousand words a video is even better, so go check it out at "Washingtonville Community Events on Facebook.
The images of Washingtonville fully alive are a testament to the good work and communication between the Event Committee, the Town of Blooming Grove and Village of Washingtonville, who spent endless hours to ensure plenty of top quality event participants were interviewed, ensured adequate safety by scheduling plenty of police coverage and interviewing each and every participating company about their procedures, safety standards and insurance coverage.
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