Fall Festival Sunday in West Nyack

Colonial Activities, Historic House Tours

BY ROBERT KNIGHT
CITY EDITOR
ROCKLAND COUNTY TIMES

Vanderbilt-Budke House in West Nyack, which many citizens are attempting to save
Vanderbilt-Budke House in West Nyack, which many citizens are attempting to save

The third annual Fall Festival in West Nyack will be held this Sunday, Oct. 18, from 12 noon to 5 p.m., and will again be located at the historic Vanderbilt-Budke-Traphagen estate at 131 Germonds Road.

The popular event, which draws upwards of a thousand visitors annually, is sponsored every October by Heritage of West Nyack. Co-sponsors of the event are the town of Clarkstown, which owns the historic farm setting, and the Historical Society of Rockland County.

Admission to the festival is free, and free parking is available at the adjacent Town of Clarkstown Germonds Park, with free shuttle bus transportation provided by the Clarkstown Mini-trans. There will be dozens of activities throughout the afternoon, some designed specifically for children and others for the entire family, and most of them are also free.

Children’s games will be located directly in front of the Traphagen house, and include pony rides from 2-4 p.m. and an all-day petting zoo, both courtesy of Nickle-O Farms. Other events include stencil art and writing with a quill pen, both sponsored by the county Historical Society, pumpkin and face painting led by Heritage of West Nyack members, a donut game (until they run out), a pumpkin bean bag toss and pumpkin ring toss all sponsored by the same group.

Hundreds of pumpkins will also be available for sale at the festival’s Pumpkin Patch, conveniently scattered about one of the farm fields closest to Germonds Road A children’s story time will be held at 2:30 p.m. and again at 3:30 p.m., with readings led by Elyse, Stephanie and Dustin Hausner (Stephanie is a Clarkstown Councilwoman).

Horse-drawn hay rides around the property will be available for all ages from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., at a charge of $3 per person, and music will be provided by Fireball Mall on fiddle, banjo, mandolin and guitar from noon to 2 p.m.

Hudson Valley Wood Turners will teach visitors how to make a wooden pen and other wood turning skills, and a presentation on honeybee hives and their propagation will be led by Ron Breland. A lace making demonstration will be given all afternoon by Mayra Petretti inside the north wing of the Traphagen House. A similar all day presentation on colonial soap making will be led by Wendy MacDowell just in front of the same house.

A special feature of the festival will be all-day tours of the historic Vanderbilt House led by members of the Clarkstown Historic Review Board and a walking tour of the entire seven-acre heritage farm by members of the Rockland Farm Alliance.

The walking tour will start at 2 p.m. in front of the 1739 Vanderbilt House. Like most other events at the festival, the house and farm tours are free of charge.

Further information about the fall festival are available from Heritage of West Nyack at 845-639-2056, their website at www.HeritageOfWestNyack.org, their address at P.O. Box 46, West Nyack, N.Y. or at their monthly meetings held the first Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the West Nyack Library on Strawtown Road.

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