A Night in Sleepy Hollow
Centuries later stories continue of the Headless Horseman riding through Sleepy Hollow from those who have claimed to witness the ghoulish event!  Can it be just their imagination or is the legend of the Headless Horseman really true?  Only you can discover the answer.  We dare you to venture out into the dark of night into the Perry Farm Park woods and listen for the thundering hoof beats of the Horseman's stallion.  The legend will be told!  Witnesses will come forth!  You just may see it for yourself!

Age(s): All Ages
Date(s): October 10, 11, 17, 18, 24 & 25, 2008
Time(s): 6:30-10:00p.m.
Location: Perry Farm Park
Fee: $6 pre-sale;
Children 18 months and younger are free
Children must be accompanied by an adult
No refunds for outdoor funraising events

For groups over 10, remember to ask for our pre-sale group discount rate! Contact the Event Coordinator at 933-9905 ext. 351 for rates and details.

Sleepy Hollow Volunteers Needed!
The Bourbonnais Township Park District is looking for volunteers to help with our annual Sleepy Hollow Event. Volunteer opportunities range from haunted maze construction to running games and activities at the Sleepy Hollow Event. Evening and weekend volunteer hours are available. Volunteers must be 14 years or older. Volunteer applications can be picked up at any of the Bourbonnais Township Park District facilities including the Perry Farm House, Recreation Station and Exploration Station. Completed application forms need to be turned in to the Exploration Station no later than September 15th. Please contact Museum Program Manager at 933-9005 ext. 351 for more details.

History of a Night in Sleepy Hollow
Once upon a time there was a children's museum located in the quaint little town of Bourbonnais Illinois.  This museum, a part of the Bourbonnais Township Park District, was a favorite place for children and families to visit.  The museum, called Exploration Station...a children's museum, struggled to provide enough money to update and repair its exhibits.  The museum's director decided to host a special event to raise funds to benefit the children museum's exhibit fund.  This was to be no regular event.  Museum staff wanted it to be a great family event that was fun, recreational and educational.  
It, also, had to fit into the museum's mission to create a magical place where children can ignite their imagination.  In 1991, through the creativity of the museum director and staff, the Night in Sleepy Hollow event was developed.  The event was held outdoors on the park district's Perry Farm Park.  Over 200 visitors attended A Night in Sleepy Hollow during its first year.  The Sleepy Hollow event was so well attended that the Exploration Station staff decided to hold it every year in October around Halloween. 

Fifteen years later, A Night in Sleepy Hollow has evolved into the Bourbonnais Township Park District's most popular event.  The event is still connected to its roots as fundraiser used to support new exhibits and free programs for the children's museum.
Since 1991, the event has expanded from a play and hayride that ran for two weekends, into a three weekend Halloween extravaganza.  The event has added several new attractions and is visited by 3,500 people annually.  For locals, A Night in Sleepy Hollow is an annual family outing at Halloween time.  Some patrons, who had attended the event when they were teenagers, are now old enough to bring their own families.  

This event also gives older children and teens in the community something to do when they are too old to trick or treat and too young to see most Halloween movies or haunted houses.

An unexpected and welcomed result of the event is the response from local teachers and school children.  By bringing Washington Irving's story to life, the event attracts local teachers who use the event to promote reading.  Teachers often incorporate the event into their curriculum and give extra credit to students who help volunteer at the event.  The re-enactment portion of the event can spark a child's love of literature by seeing the pages they have read come to life.

Unique Features
A Night in Sleepy hollow is unique, because of its use of a natural park setting and property to produce a one of a kind production.  The Perry Farm Park makes the perfect setting as part of a living stage for the Sleepy Hollow re-enactment.
The re-enactment could not be accomplished without use of this nationally registered historical 170 acre property and its 1800's house and barns dating from an era only 40 years later than the stories own setting in 1780.  Not only do local students act out the drama, they do so in a setting that allows you to feel and see that era.

Our own local Olivet Nazarene University each year supplies actors from their drama department to be the cast for the re-enactment of
a new version of Washington Irving's story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. 
The play is set around three different camp fire locations, which the audience walks to. Each campfire has a backdrop where actors bring the audience into the story as if they were living in the time of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. 
Actors guide the audience through the story and then into the haunted woods where they cross paths with a headless horseman.  Fleeing the headless horseman, actors and participants must cross over a covered bridge to safety.

Besides our local drama students, the production would not be possible without the talented Equestrian riders, who supply their talent and their horses to become headless horseman.  These paid horsemen (and women) bring a level of reality to the re-enactment that would not be possible without them.

The haunted maze is a popular part of the event as well. Built under a 30x60 foot tent, the maze has winding hallways, creepy sets and monsters lurking around every corner and a dead end in the maze.

A recently added addition to the event is the Horseman Photo Booth. Here participants can get their picture taken with a real horseman and horse.

Use of volunteers
Because the event is a fundraiser, the use of paid staff is kept to a minimum. Volunteers for the event are recruited from local schools, community organizations and the local chamber of commerce.

Each night 20-50 volunteers run activities including hayrides, games, crafts, mad scientist experiments, horseman helpers, maze monsters, gate and movie tent attendants. Volunteers also assist each night in set-up and clean-up. Not only are volunteers responsible for helping to run the event, volunteers are almost solely responsible for the creation of the haunted maze.  In 2006, one volunteer put more than 60 hours of time in helping to create the maze. Volunteers make this event possible and the Park District extends it's gratitude to all those who have helped!

Our Night in Sleepy Hollow special event truly does create a magical place for children to ignite their imagination. This story re-enactment is like a fable for a child. Families bond together as they laugh and scream throughout this event. The learning experience and family bonding that is formed is invaluable. The knowledge and sparks for learning literature and  history will stay with them throughout their school years.