CORNucopia corn festival Labor Day weekend in Sleepy Hollow

CORNucopia, the lower Hudson Valley's only corn festival, returns to Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow this Labor Day weekend. Featuring a bounty of corn-centric delicacies and a bevy of interactive, corn-related activities, CORNucopia takes place Saturday through Monday, Aug. 30-Sept. 1, from 10-5 each day. Ideal for all ages, this celebration of all things corn will feature hands-on activities, craft and cooking demonstrations, lots of corny cuisine, live music, and a friendly scarecrow come to life.

All visitors get a free bag of popcorn. Other maize-inspired food selections available for purchase include fresh roasted corn, cornbread, corn salad, kettle corn, corn salsa and chips, and corn chili, plus draft beers and draft root beer from Captain Lawrence Brewery. Blue Pig of Croton-on-Hudson will feature sweet corn ice cream. Visitors can compete in a corn shucking contest, participate in a barn dance, learn how to make a corn-husk doll, and play games like Conk the Crow, Cornhole, and Ring-a-Cob in the CORNival gaming area. Live bluegrass and folk music by the Tappan Cowboys will be heard throughout the day.

Other activities include scarecrow making and both modern and historic open-hearth cooking demonstrations - using corn as the main ingredient, of course. Kids can traverse a kid-sized "mini maize maze" and all visitors can tour the site's 18th-century manor house and grist mill. Visitors can purchase cornmeal ground on site, which will include recipes for some of the items being prepared at CORNucopia.

Philipsburg Manor is a living history museum owned and operated by the non-profit Historic Hudson Valley. All CORNucopia proceeds support its education and preservation mission. Tickets are $14 for adults; $12 for seniors; $8 for children 3-17; and free for children under 3 and for Historic Hudson Valley members. Tickets are available online at www.hudsonvalley.org. Philipsburg Manor is at 381 North Broadway (Route 9) in Sleepy Hollow.