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You can go trick or treating for free at Gracie Mansion this year
If you’re still looking for Halloween plans, this one’s for you: Mayor Eric Adams has just announced that his official residence, Gracie Mansion, will turn into a spine-chilling extravaganza on October 28 and 29.
Between 1 and 3pm on Saturday and noon and 3pm on Sunday, New Yorkers able to snag up the free tickets will get to partake in a 20-minute outdoor haunted experience at the People’s House at East 88th Street and East End Avenue. Expect to walk through a corn maze and a haunted cemetery, trick or treat with fellow New Yorkers and revel in all the Halloween decorations on display.
“I am confident that when we open ‘The People’s House,’ New Yorkers will finally believe me about the ghosts floating around here,” Mayor Adams said in an official statement. “Halloween is a great opportunity for New Yorkers to spend time in their communities, and that’s why we are inviting our city’s residents to celebrate on the haunted—we mean historic— grounds of Gracie Mansion.”
Officials announced that the politician has actually set aside a number of tickets for approximately 300 families in the city’s shelter system and asylum-seeking families. The remaining passes will be free and distributed on a first-come, first-served basis to all city residents as determined by borough. You can reserve up to 4 tickets right here immediately.
Feel free to bring the kids over as well, but keep in mind that officials have noted the event to be suitable for those between the ages of 6 and 10. Minors must be accompanied by either a parent or a guardian. Most importantly: everyone is encouraged to wear costumes!
And if you just can’t get enough of all things spooky, make sure to check out our list of the 98 best Halloween events in NYC for a scary good time and, of course, our guide to this year’s Village Halloween Parade, scheduled for Tuesday, October 31.
The Rattiest City In America Has Been Announced, And It’s Not NYC
You’d figure a city with it’s very own Rat Czar, an app that tracks rats in the subway system and an interactive pest portal would hold the title for the rattiest city, but not according to this new study. In fact, New York City was ranked as the third rattiest city in America.
The study, done by pest control company, Orkin, just released their “Top 50 Rattiest Cities List” for the ninth consecutive year. Curious to know who beat out NYC for the top spots? It was none other than Chicago (so much for ranking as the best big city in the U.S—and no, we’re not still bitter!) and Los Angeles.
Orkin gathered data by analyzing the number of new rodent services in each city to determine the current demand to treat rodent-related issues. For this year’s list, Orkin collected new services that popped up between Sept.1, 2022 to Aug. 31, 2023. Both residential and commercial pest control treatments were considered.
Although this isn’t the first rundown for New Yorkers on how to deal with rats, Orkin encourages residents to look for droppings, gnaw marks, nests, rub marks, and strange noises.
“Rodents multiply swiftly and when an infestation is left unattended, they can cause extensive damage to homes and yards,” said Orkin entomologist, Ben Hottel. “Rats are capable of squeezing into spaces through holes as small as a quarter, which makes it especially important to seal cracks from the outside.”
For prevention efforts, they encourage people to store away food, declutter, maintain landscaping, inspect both the inside and outside of your home and search for possible entry points.
The top 10 rattiest cities in America
1. Chicago
2. Los Angeles
3. New York City
4. Washington D.C.
5. San Fransisco
6. Philadelphia
7. Baltimore
8. Denver
9. Detroit
10. Cleveland-Akron
Find the full ranking here.
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