East Coast Museum Halloween Events
All Hallows' Eve Activities for Children and Adults
On the North American East Coast, five museums will have a variety of Halloween-related events before, during and after the actual holiday for adults and children.
Five North American East Coast museums will play host this Fall to all sorts of Halloween events. Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum, New York's Vander Ende-Onderdonk House, Queens County Farm Museum and American Museum of Natural History and Philadelphia's University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology will feature various activities, from lectures and demonstrations to tours and entertainment for the whole family.
- Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada: October 24, 2007, 7:00-8:30 PM
In Halloween Unmasked: Disguised, Deceived & Demented, scholar Sudharshan Duraiyappah and Egyptologist Gayle Gibson, both ROM instructors, describe why the ancient Celts, medieval Christians and Mexicans spent Halloween specially attired and believed they could interact with the spirits of the dead. The origins of Halloween celebrations in diverse cultures are explored.
- Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada: October 26, 2007
Activities include: a musical tour of the ROM's Seven Wonders by Ron Korb the Crystal Piper (7:00 PM); a costume contest with prizes judged by Alexandra Palmer, ROM Curator of Textiles and Costumes (7:00 PM); and a screening of the silent horror film Nosferatu (1922) with live musical accompaniment by the Toronto Sinfonietta and original score by Canadian composer Philip McConnell (8:00 PM).
- Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada: October 28, 2007
The ROM's Piped Piper leads gallery tours (12:00 Noon, 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM); musical works of young and emerging Canadian as well as national and foreign composers by the Toronto-based classical sextet Continuum (12:00 Noon); and a best Halloween costume contest with prizes (2:00 PM).
- Vander Ende-Onderdonk House, Ridgewood, NY USA: October 28, 2007, 1:00-4:00 PM
The Onderdonk House's annual Harvest Festival features food and games for families and friends. The first 500 children will receive pumpkins to decorate and take to their homes. The Joe Fuoco Music Center will provide live entertainment in the museum's large backyard. The Halloween Parade for ghosts, goblins and the like begins at 3:00 PM with prizes awarded for best homemade costume.
- Queens County Farm Museum, Floral Park, NY USA: October 27, 28 and 31: 4:00-7:00 PM
Visit the museum's haunted house for a scarily good time. Hawrides, Halloween treats, pumpkins, mulled cider and apples are available for purchase.
- American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY USA: October 31, 2007, 4:00-7:00 PM
Join Winnie the Pooh, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Curious Geroge, Maya & Miguel and other characters at the American Museum of Natural History's 12th Annual Halloween Celebration. Costumed children will visit the ferocious dinosaurs, wander among eerie elephants and explore the unearthly universe. There'll be trick-or-treating, arts-and-crafts activities and live performances by musical groups and master pumpkin carver Hugh McMahon. Revelers can create scary origami, ghastly ghosts and Venus fly traps.
- University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA USA: November 11, 2007, 12:30-4:45 PM
Join wizards and witches at Harry Potter and the Magical Muggle Museum. This spectacular extravanganza is free with museum admission donation. Visitors dressed as wizards receive a half-price entry discount. The afternoon's activities include a sorting hat, potions class, lectures by Hogwarts instructors and university professors, a game of Wizard Chess with real people, visits to Diagon Alley and Ollivander’s wand making shop, magical objects on display, concert performances by The Moaning Myrtles and The Whomping Willows and much more. Expect to meet Professors Severus Snape, Rubeus Hagrid, Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody and Pomona Sprout, among other supernatural characters from Harry Potter's world. The movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone will be screened (for the uninitiated) that afternoon.
