by Elaine Piniat
As the leaves begin to change colors and fall from the trees and the temperature leisurely cools down, the smell of fall is in Long Island’s air. Summer is over, regular work schedules are underway, school has commenced, the football season has taken off, MLB playoffs are quickly approaching, and before long, trick-or-treaters will be knocking on the door.
Long Island has much to offer during the fall season with festivals, preserves, arboretums, corn mazes, pumpkin and apple picking, and even car shows.
The Long Island Fall Festival from Oct. 8-11 is just one of the Island’s many fall attractions. The 17-year-old event is one of the largest in the Northeast, drawing tens of thousands of families over the tri-state area to the 25 acres of Heckscher State Park in Huntington.
“Everybody should come to the festival. There is something to do for everybody no matter what your personal interest is,” says Alyssa Nightingale, Long Island Fall Festival spokesperson.
The festival features live entertainment, a carnival with a wide variety of rides, hundreds of vendors; food courts, a meet-and-greet with Travel Channel personalities Andrew Zimmern and Samantha Brown, a Columbus Day parade and a meatball-eating contest.
“There’s great music, great fun, great festivities,” Nightingale says. “It’s just a fun-filled weekend.”
Nightingale says the festival will also include massages, manicures, pony rides, a petting zoo and astronomy under the stars. Philanthropic efforts such as cell phone and battery recycling, a food drive, and a blood drive hosted by the Long Island Blood Services, are also on the schedule.
But if festivals are not your thing, go for the more nature-driven recreational activities. The Nature Conservancy owns a wide variety of preserves, sanctuaries, and arboretums across Long Island.
“We attract people from all different walks of life and demographics,” says Kara Jackson, communications director of the Nature Conservatory. “Even though we have an on-the-ground presence locally, all of our work is related to a bigger picture.”
For more than 50 years, the conservatory has preserved roughly 150 thousand acres of land and water on Long Island in places like Cold Spring Harbor, East Hampton and Shelter Island.
According to Jackson, two preserves stand out to her as great attractions to visit during the fall: the Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island and the Calverton Ponds Preserve.
The Mashomack Preserve, also known as the “Jewel of the Peconic,” is a 2,039-acre preserve with beautiful forest lands and is a great place to see foliage changing, migratory birds passing through amd beautiful views of the coastline. The Calverton Ponds Preserve is only 350 acres but has an oak pine forest and coastal plain ponds, which are a rare type of wetland in North America. This preserve hosts a number of rare amphibians and fish as well as butterflies and moths.
And if you’re in the Halloween Spirit, go to holiday-themed corn mazes such as F & W Schmitt Family Farms in Melville. By day the farm is family-friendly but by night the corn maze is spooky and filled with surprises. Guests at the farm can pick pumpkins and a wide variety of vegetables as well as go on hay and pony rides. Schmitt Family Farms also has a playground for children with inflatables and a straw pyramid. At night, there is a haunted mansion.
Car shows seem to find their way into the season amidst the fall fun. Long Island Cars is featuring three car shows this fall: Oct. 10 at MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, Oct. 17 at Flowerfield Fairground in St. James and Nov. 6 and 7 at Belmont Racetrack in Elmont.
“We have a large audience and it keeps on growing,” says Frank Coppola, a producer of Long Island Car Shows. “There are more people looking for special interest cars.”
Four different areas make up each show: A for-sale section, where cars are sold by individual owners; an informational section, where there are vendors, car parts, and literature; a display section, where show cars are parked and polished for onlookers to admire; and a judged car show with about 50 different classes and trophies awarded.
The show at the Belmont Racetrack is one of Long Island Cars biggest with more then 1,200 cars, Coppola says. General admission is $8 for adults and free for children under 12 years old.
