14 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 5, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queens County Farm hosts trick-or-treaters
for socially distanced Halloween celebration
BY DEAN MOSES
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
For many, the scariest thing about
Halloween this year was the prospect of
it being canceled due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
However, much to the delight of Queens
children all over the borough, the Queens
Country Farm Museum held a trick-ortreating
event on Oct. 31.
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the iconic farmland
played host to a sold-out ticketed
aff air which allowed children to explore
the 47-acre grounds and safely trick-ortreat
while maintaining social distancing
protocols.
Children of all ages barreled through
fallen auburn leaves, touting buckets
shaped like pumpkins brimming with
chocolate. Parents and guardians scrambled
aft er kids that had — just for one
day — been transformed into monsters,
superheroes, and even fi rst responders.
Like zombies craving brains, these mini
ghouls and ghosts had one objective in
mind: candy. Aft er months of uncertainty,
Halloween was underway.
Tabletops decorated with bite-sized
confectionery were peppered around
the estate, creating pitstops for children
to procure sweets beside barns, chicken
coops, cow pastures, fl owerbeds and
a pumpkin patch. Some of these makeshift
stands held other treats, too, such as
bubble bottles and worms families could
take home and place in their gardens to
improve the soil and plant life. Whereas
some were apprehensive to take a coff ee
cup fi lled with earthworms, a mother and
daughter combo dressed as two bright,
pink sharks jumped at the chance to see
everything the farm had to off er.
“We moved to Queens last year, and I’ve
been here as a teacher and as a child, and
I wanted to bring my daughter this time
for the fi rst time this year,” said Niaren
DeSilva, who originally planned to take
her 1 ½-year-old pumpkin picking at the
Queens County Farm Museum, but when
the tickets sold out, she was happy to learn
about this Halloween event.
“I was defi nitely worried that we
wouldn’t be able to trick-or-treat and do
all of the fun seasonal things, but I was
happy to fi nd this and be able to socially
distance and have fun,” said DeSilva.
Th e highlight for DeSilva was seeing the
animals on the farm and observing the
children’s intricate cos- tumes, and,
of course, being able to trickor
treat during these uncertain
times.
In addition to col- lecting
all things sugary,
visitors could
enjoy exploring
a massive and
rather spooky corn
maze, embarking
on rumbling
hayrides
pulled by large
tractors, feasting
on freshly roasted
corn shish kabobs,
and taking selfi es
in a fl ower garden
housing animal-shaped
plants and walls overgrown
with vivid fl owers.
Th is laundry list of
activities made Queens
Country Farm Museum
the place to spend
Halloween, bringing
such famous faces as
Pennywise the clown
from Stephen King’s
novel and terrifying
Camp Crystal Lake
resident Jason
Voorhees.
Th e Vanbrunt
family were
dressed to
impress as horror
movie allstars.
Their
14-year-old son,
Andy Rodriguez,
donned a classic
“Friday the 13th” hockey
mask. While only
being permitted to watch
a few of these slasher fl icks,
the costume was inspired
by the online multiplayer
video game of the same name.
“We were all dressing up
as scary characters
and Jason is
the coolest scary
character to me. I
like the game and I
watched the 2008
film,” Rodriguez
said.
K a r i n a
Vanbrunt has
taken her children
to the
Queens County
Farm Museum
for many years,
and usually in
October they enjoy
the fall festivity
of pumpkin
picking.
“This is
the fi rst time
we’ve done the
Halloween on the
Photos by Dean Moses
farm though, we always come pumpkin
picking so when we saw they were having
a Halloween thing we decided to give it a
try,” Karina Vanbrunt said.
She added that she was uncertain how
the holiday was going to turn out for her
children.
“We were hesitant about physically
trick-or-treating, usually around
Glendale, where I live, it gets really crowded
every year. So, we wanted to fi nd a
place that was outdoors and had an open
space where we could decide to leave if it
got too crowded. Th at’s the reason why we
decided to come to the farm.”
Th eir youngest son, 7-year-old Caden
Rodriguez dressed as Pennywise the
Dancing Clown the latest adaptation of
the horror classic “IT,” while his 3-yearold
sister, Maya, wore a yellow raincoat
with white face paint and blood to represent
the departed Georgie who meets his
demise at the hands of Pennywise.
“I like Pennywise because it is horror
and I like horror movies,” Caden
Rodriguez said.
Queens County Farm Museum didn’t
just transform their site into a spooktacular
event; they made it a haven for families
to feel some sort of normalcy during what
has already been a scary year.
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