Tiny Hudson Valley hamlet to host huge Halloween party
Community leaders in Sugar Loaf are expecting more than 2,500 visitors for its annual 12-hour Halloween Festival.
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A tiny Orange County hamlet's population is about to explode tomorrow when it is transformed for one of the mid-Hudson's premier Halloween parties.
Community leaders in Sugar Loaf are expecting more than 2,500 visitors for its annual 12-hour Halloween Festival.
Business owners and Chester Parks and Recreation employees spent much of Friday finalizing a trunk-or-treat event, hiding items for a scavenger hunt and building a hay maze outside the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center.
"We're doing all he back-stuff (pre-work) to have all of that ready when everybody gets here at 11 a.m. tomorrow," Parks and Recreation employee Kristin Palmer said.
For the adult crowd, there will be live music, drink specials at every bar and the Lightclub Curiosity's Halloween Ball beginning at 7 p.m., hosted by manifestor and witch Melissa Somma.
Somma, owner of the Lightclub Curiosity Shoppe, said this year she will again have to limit the number of customers inside her store at one time.
"We want everyone to have a personalized experience," Somma said, "so we always have someone out there saying, 'Trust me. It's worth the wait, because you will get the attention that you need.'"
Jeff Zahn, of the Sugar Loaf Community Foundation, told News 12 that organizers have made adjustments over the years to ease parking and traffic frustration.
This year, organizers are providing a shuttle service to take visitors around the hamlet.
Zahn wants the experience to be seamless because there will be a lot to absorb.
"We're a historic hamlet," he said. "We're 250 years old. You're not going to find that anywhere. And now we've become Holiday Central."
