America turns 250 this year, and Port Jervis is throwing one hell of a birthday party. Fireworks. Live music. George Washington and Ben Franklin walking the grounds. A giant car show. Chainsaw carving by a world champion. Carnival rides. Lobster rolls. Slow-smoked barbecue. A birthday cake cut with a saber.

The Rhinebeck Crafts Festival returns to the Dutchess County Fairgrounds on June 6–7, and if you’ve never been, we’re genuinely a little envious of you. There’s something about experiencing it for the first time, turning a corner and suddenly realizing the scale of it, the quality of it, the sheer amount of strange, beautiful, one-of-a-kind stuff spread out in every direction, that’s hard to recreate once you know what’s coming. But honestly? It gets better every year.

October doesn’t tiptoe into New York — it barrels in with a calendar so stacked, you’ll wonder how to fit it all in. This is the month when haunted houses stretch longer, festivals blaze brighter, concerts hit harder, and every corner of the Hudson Valley and beyond feels electric with fall energy. It’s not just the peak of spooky season — it’s the peak of everything.

Every fall, when the harvest moon rises high and the nights start to cool, millions gather around the world to honor one of Asia’s oldest...