HALLOWEEN · TOWN OF BABYLON

The launch was set for about 6:15 on Saturday night, with the light gone off Belmont Lake, and then the pumpkins went out on the water. It was the 13th annual Great Jack-o’-Lantern Sail at Belmont Lake State Park in North Babylon, and a video posted this week by the Instagram account Long Island Wise Guide shows them glowing their way across the lake.

The sail is run by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and it is free. This year’s afternoon started at 3 p.m. with a kid-friendly spooky house, a magic show, a petting zoo, character meet-and-greets, children’s games and Pumpkin Park Sweet Street, a trick-or-treat lane stocked with candy from local businesses.

How the pumpkins get on the lake

Families register online for one of the first 50 spots, carve a pumpkin somewhere between a soccer ball and a basketball in size, and drop it at the Belmont Lake Boat Dock between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the day.

Rhonda Moziy of North Atlantic Canoe and Kayak described the rest in 2015, the year her club helped with what she called the third annual sail. Park staff set 50 carved pumpkins on small black square rafts, linked together. Once darkness fell, kids and parents lined the shoreline, and the club’s kayakers tied on and towed the rafts around the lake while the crowd cheered. Afterward, owners waited to claim their pumpkins. The North Babylon Volunteer Fire Company brought its trucks. Read her account

The weather gets a vote. In 2018, a stormy forecast pushed the sail from Saturday to Sunday, Greater Long Island reported. The park’s Recreation Department, (631) 321-3510, is the number for questions, and the one to call next fall. This year’s listing

The other traditions

A trail of 7,000 pumpkins in Wheatley Heights. RISE of the Jack O’Lanterns fills the wooded campus of Usdan, at 185 Colonial Springs Road, with what its organizers count as more than 10,000 illuminated objects, 7,000 of them hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns. It is the show’s fifth year at Usdan, and it runs on 21 select nights through Sunday, Nov. 1. Advance tickets are required, so check the RISE website for the nights that are left.

Trick-or-treating on Main Street. The Babylon Village Chamber of Commerce runs an annual safe trick-or-treat downtown. In 2022, Greater Long Island photographed shop staff on Deer Park Avenue and Main Street handing out candy, stickers and craft kits. This year’s version, the Creepy Crawl, was in last week’s Halloween roundup, along with the library parades.

The yard on Wilson Street. Last October, Greater Long Island profiled Garry Meigel’s front-yard display in Babylon: more than 20,000 LED lights and 50 animatronics, free to see, with a raffle and donation box for the Tunnel to Towers charity. His father started it about 15 years ago. “The best thing in the world is seeing the smiles on people’s faces,” Meigel said. We have not confirmed it is up this year. The 2025 story

And the one we’ll skip. Amityville’s most famous Halloween name comes from a movie. The house is a private home with neighbors around it. Let them enjoy their Halloween too.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT, SATURDAY, OCT. 31

New on the I Love Babylon calendar since last week’s list:

Trick or Treat in the Children’s Room, Deer Park Public Library, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Treats while supplies last. Free. Details

Kiddie Costume Jamboree, Copiague Memorial Public Library, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. A costume storytime with music and a baby parade, just before the library’s 11:30 parade. Free. Details

Spooky Jazz with the Paul Joseph Trio, Deer Park Public Library, 1 to 2:30 p.m. Spooky classics as jazz. Free. Details

Spooks and Spines, The Neverending Story, 9 W. Main St., Babylon, 7 to 10 p.m., 21 and over. An after-hours bookstore night with the 1978 film Halloween at 8 p.m. Pay what you wish, from free to $15 and up; every ticket needs pre-registration. Tickets

Halloween at The Other Room, 511 Commack Road, Deer Park, 8 to 11:30 p.m., 21 and over, with DJ Yung Justice and The Rolling Cask. The calendar lists $15. Details

Sunday morning, back at Belmont Lake: Hope For Youth’s Trick or Trot Run, a kids’ run at 8:30 a.m. and a 5K or walk at 9, for the group’s Runaway and Homeless Youth Services Program. Details

Before you head out. Suffolk County’s health department says children are more than twice as likely to be hit and killed by a car on Halloween as on any other day. Its advice: walk with young children, keep older kids in groups on familiar, well-lit streets, put bright costumes with reflective trim and flashlights on everyone, keep candle-lit jack-o’-lanterns off steps and doorways, and have an adult check the candy before anyone eats it. The full list

Source: I Love Babylon, “The 13th Annual Great Jack-O’-Lantern Sail at Belmont Lake State Park,” Oct. 24, 2026

Source: New York State Parks, “The Great Jack-O’-Lantern Sail 2026”

Source: Long Island Wise Guide on Instagram, video by @3d_adventuresin3k, Oct. 2026

Source: North Atlantic Canoe and Kayak, “The Great Jack-O-Lantern Sail,” Oct. 30, 2015

Source: Greater Long Island, “Update: Belmont Lake State Park rescheduled Jack-O-Lantern Sail for Sunday,” Oct. 25, 2018

Source: RISE of the Jack O’Lanterns

Source: Greater Long Island, “30 Photos: Babylon Chamber Hosts Safe Halloween Event Throughout Village,” Oct. 31, 2022

Source: Greater Long Island, “Babylon Man Builds One of Long Island’s Wildest Halloween Displays,” Oct. 17, 2025

Source: Suffolk County Department of Health Services, “Halloween Safety Tips”

Source: I Love Babylon events calendar, Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, 2026

Photo: NY State Parks.