Arts & Entertainment

Child Artists to Paint Windows Wicked Sunday

Young artists will transform downtown Rye into a Halloween scene on Sunday.

In what may be the hottest kid’s event of the year, more than 580 teams of children will descend upon Rye’s business district to paint the city scary this Sunday.

Rye Recreation’s annual Halloween Window Painting is a 60-year tradition and the largest contest of its kind in Westchester County. The Women’s Club of Rye, Philanthropy for Children has sponsored the event for the past 20 years.

The 1,160 kids in grades kindergarten to eighth grade who registered for the event will paint everything from ghosts and pumpkins to the result of the Rye Harrison homecoming game Halloween style, according to Rye Rec Superintendent Sally Rogol.

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The young artists will be on Purchase Street, Purdy Avenue, Elm Place, Boston Post Road, Milton Road, Forest Avenue and Theodore Fremd Avenue, Rogel said.

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Find out what's happening in Ryewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

About ten years ago the event changed from an actual contest to a more fun, participatory event, meaning every painter wins and receives a participation medal for their efforts, Rogol said. The contest also used to have both singles and teams paint, but because there is not enough window space to accommodate so many painters, the contest was changed to pairs.

There will also be two bands, a magician, a ghost building station and children id program, sponsored by NY Life that day. The street will be closed from Havilland Lane to Purdy Avenue. The Window Painting will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 21. The raindate is Sunday, Oct. 28.

Rye Rec is currently accepting wait list applications, which you can take to the Rec office. If you have questions call the Recreation Department at 967-2535 or email halloween@ryeny.gov.

Also, on Sunday, dozens of professional photographers will be out and about taking photographs of the young artists and of Playland's Scared by the Sound as part of "Photographers on Location- Contemporary Views of Community."  They will then showcase their work from that day from Oct. 28 until Nov. 9 at the Rye Arts Center. Read more about that here. 

Is your child participating? Post photos to this article or text them to 914-486-0542 (go ahead, put the number in your phone right now!) and we will feature them on the front page of Rye Patch. Please include your child's name and age.


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