South Street Seaport Museum Offers Spooktacular Halloween Fun for Kids and Grownups Alike



outh Street Seaport Museum will host Halloween celebrations for adults and children alike. On the afternoon of both days, we will be presenting our annual 's8220;Halloween at Sea's8221; Family Festival. On the evening of Saturday, October 28, we will host the first annual 's8220;Harbor Fright Night's8221; -- a costume party for adults aboard the tall ship Peking that will serve as a fundraiser for the Museum'ss partnership with the New York Harbor School in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

New York, NY October 17, 2006 -- Calling all mermaids, pirates, sea monsters and Halloween creatures! Come aboard the ghost ship Peking to celebrate 's8220;Halloween at Sea's8221; on Saturday, October 28 and Sunday, October 29, 2006. South Street Seaport Museum's8217;s annual Halloween festival is bigger and better than ever, with activities including face painting, crafts and games, spooky storytelling, and a 's8220;Mad Science's8221; laboratory featuring experiments in 's8220;grossology.'s8221; The bravest guests are invited to navigate a haunted maze aboard our tall ship 's8211; beware of pirates and ghosts lurking around every bend! Children 10 and under will receive Halloween treats and prizes to take home. The program runs from noon to 5 pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $5 per person, which does not include entrance to the Museum galleries. Participation is offered on a first come, first served basis. For additional details, please call 212.748.8757.

When the sun sets on Saturday night, adults can join the fun as we celebrate 's8220;Harbor Fright Night,'s8221; a costume party aboard Peking featuring an open bar and music by D.J. Moose. A donation of $50, most of which is tax deductible, provides admission to the event. Funds raised will support the Museum's8217;s partnership with the New York Harbor School, a small public high school located in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The Harbor School's8217;s mission is to use New York's8217;s maritime resources to create a rigorous, college-preparatory curriculum. For the past three years, students have explored maritime history, harbor ecology and marine technology while sailing aboard the Museum's8217;s 1893 schooner Lettie G. Howard.

Learning aboard this 125-foot gaff-rigged, topsail schooner has been the backbone of this innovative educational partnership. In addition to learning the skills of a mariner, students also use the Lettie as a research vessel to carry out marine science experiments. Ultimately, these experiences have helped increase academic success for Harbor School students, demonstrated by their extraordinary attendance levels and high passing rates on Regents Examinations. The program has also opened doors for many NYHS students. Four students are participating in an exchange with the Island school in Cape Eleuthera, Bahamas, where they will continue to hone their sailing skills and learn about the Caribbean's8217;s marine environment. Over the past summer, students worked aboard the Museum's8217;s 1885 schooner Pioneer and served as research assistants in marine science labs at Columbia University. Others took part in the J24 sailing program at the Manhattan Sailing Club, and a dozen worked as deckhands and engineers for New York Water Taxi. The marine technology and marine science program aboard the Lettie G. Howard clearly is working.

Unfortunately, NYHS faces the same challenges confronting many of the city's8217;s small schools as New Visions funding runs out. That implementation grant was largely responsible for supporting the sailing programs to date, through monies provided by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Open Society and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additionally, a 3-year Hayden Foundation grant recently expired. That latter grant helped support a summer sailing camp where NYHS students sailed along the Atlantic seaboard aboard the Lettie G. Howard, providing supplemental opportunities for academic enrichment and experiential learning that markedly contributed to student achievement.

Recognizing that this program is vital to the academic and future career success of NYHS students, the Museum and NYHS have launched a fundraising campaign to support the school's8217;s use of the Lettie G. Howard for years to come. Guests attending 's8220;Harbor Fright Night's8221; on Saturday, October 28 can enjoy a festive evening out, while knowing that their donations support a valuable and unique educational experience for some of New York's8217;s most underserved school children. 's8220;Harbor Fright Night's8221; runs from 8 pm till midnight aboard the tall ship Peking, docked at Pier 16 in Manhattan's8217;s historic Seaport District. Participation is limited and reservations are strongly encouraged. For additional details or reservations, please call 212.748.8757.

ABOUT THE PEKING
The four-masted barque Peking represents the final chapter in the evolution of merchant vessels powered only by wind. Launched in Hamburg, Germany in 1911, she carried manufactured goods to South America and returned via Cape Horn with nitrate. In 1932, she was retired and moored in England'ss Medway River where she served for over 40 years as a boys's school under the name Arethusa. In 1975, Peking was acquired by the museum and towed to her home at Pier 16. With a steel hull as long as a football field, and masts as tall as an 18-story building, Peking is one of the largest sailing vessels ever built and the largest preserved by a museum.

Starting in the summer of 1996, visitors could see Peking'ss wire rope rigging fully restored to its original condition 's8211; the product of a twelve-year long restoration, the most ambitious such project ever undertaken by a museum. In addition, visitors can go below decks to tour restored living quarters, view an exhibition of vintage photos of the ship during her active career, and see the film, Peking at Sea, hair-raising footage of one of Peking'ss voyages around storm-tossed Cape Horn, narrated by Capt. Irving Johnson who took part in that trip.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT SOUTH STREET SEAPORT MUSEUM
South Street Seaport Museum, founded in 1967, occupies a 12-square block historic district in Lower Manhattan's8212;site of the city's8217;s original port. The Museum's8217;s mission is to preserve, interpret and display the history of New York as a world port, highlighting both the South Street Seaport District and the tremendous contribution of maritime enterprise to the economic, social, and cultural heritage of the city, the state and the nation. This is accomplished through exhibitions, on- and off-site public programs and formal education programs for students of all ages. Until the end of October, Galleries are open from 10 am to 6 pm, Ships are open from noon to 5 pm, Tuesday through Sunday. Beginning on November 1, the Museum initiates winter hours, with Galleries open from 10 am to 5 pm, Friday through Monday, and Ships open from noon to 5 pm, Friday through Sunday. Admission is $8 for adults; $6 for students and seniors; $4 for children ages 5's8211;12. Museum members and children under age 5 are admitted free of charge. For general information about the Museum, please visit our website at www.southstreetseaportmuseum.org.

DIRECTIONS

By Subway: Take 2, 3, 4, 5, J, M, or Z to Fulton Street; A or C to Broadway-Nassau. Walk east on Fulton Street to Water Street. From 2006 to 2009, the construction of the Fulton Transit Center and the new South Ferry Terminal will cause suspension of weekend service on some subway lines in Lower Manhattan. For current information visit http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/lower_manh/index.html.

By Bus: Take M15 (South Ferry-bound) down Second Ave. to Fulton Street

By Car: From the West Side, take West Street southbound. Follow signs to FDR Drive Take underpass, keep right 's8212; use Exit 1 at end of underpass. Turn right on South Street, six blocks. From the East Side, take FDR Drive south to Exit 3 onto South Street Proceed about 1 mile.





South Street Seaport Museum Offers Spooktacular Halloween Fun for Kids and Grownups Alike