Bellport had multi-day Halloween festivities with witches, a scarecrow contest, and a famous Haunted House repertoire.
“No one does Halloween like Bellport,” Bo of It’s Only Natural said. “People love the Halloween parade and the Trick-or-Treat through the town the most, but the village offers a lot of community events leading up as well.” The pumpkin carving, the story times, and of course – yea – the scarecrows are a big deal. I see people all day long just to walking and voting on them for the weeks leading up to the parade.”
The Halloween Parade took place Saturday, Oct. 26, traveling from the Bellport Fire House and finishing the route to the Bell Street Community Center. Thirty scarecrows were entered, with the winner being announced at the parade.
Scarecrow #20, entitled “Olympic the Gymnast,” took the gold.
Pumpkin carving and decorating were also featured at the Bellport Brookhaven Historical Society Museum Complex, where its Trustee and Board Member, Joseph Varsalona, was setting up the annual pumpkin carving and decorating and the evening pumpkin blaze.
But with all that Bellport does to make Halloween a draw to neighboring towns, the piece-de-resistance is the Gateway’s Haunted House – in its 16th year – that continues past Halloween through to November 2 with tickets for each performance.
“It’s the best of everything,” said Paul Allan, the Executive Artistic Director of The Gateway Performing Arts Center. “The house has fully committed actors who don’t break character, great scenery, costumes, props, automation. People come to see it “from far and wide
What makes the Gateway Haunted House so special?
“Dozens of professionally trained actors who rehearse each character that inhabits the haunt, giving it a unique, theatrical quality unrivaled on the island,” Allan continued.
This year’s theme is Merlyn the Magician––Who has become obsessed with turning the theater and all its inhabitants into the illustrious Arthurian legends of Camelot––but instead created a twisted breeding ground of sorcerers, goblins, and other freaks that lurk around every corner
Since the actual haunt may be too scary for the under-teen crowd, the theatre also hosts a “Not So Scary Kids Adventure” for children three, which ran through October 27.
