A Night Under The Stars
On April 9th, The Walkway Over The Hudson did not close at their usual time of 7:30 p.m. Instead they took a short break and then reopened at 8 p.m. for ticket holders who were attending Walkway At Night. A chance to see the Hudson River and the surrounding areas lit up from 212 feet above.
Geoff Brault, Director of Marketing and Communications, said that Walkway At Night has been occurring for a number of years, but it wasn’t until recently that the event became as frequent for the general public as it is now. “It began in a structured form, the way it’s structured now, three years ago. It used to be that there would be night time events only for Walkway members. We then realized how popular it was and decided to do a bunch of these and we put around eight to ten on the calendar a year.”
Visitors of The Walkway Over The Hudson find this event to be a great experience and something that is the perfect end to their week. Scott Faro said that he has “…been to the Walkway many times for walks, runs, and to bike during the day, but this is my first night event and I’m having a great time.”
The Walkway Over The Hudson has become a great place to get outdoors and go for an outing during the pandemic. Although the pandemic has caused The Walkway to have to change how their events occur, especially Walkway At Night. When reserving tickets to the event, you have to either pick from the Highland side or the Poughkeepsie side and cannot switch. The middle of the walkway is blocked off and you can’t go any further. If you start on the Highland side, you can only stay on the Highland side. It was never like this before the pandemic, but there is a reason for this.
“This is because of COVID regulations in New York State. If we had just one event and left the bridge fully open, the capacity is limited to 200 people at an outdoor event. Because we split the bridge in the middle, we are able to run two events at the same time. A Poughkeepsie event and a Highland event, which allows us to double our capacity to 400 people.” Geoff Brault explained.
Those who attend this event like Scott, were still able to get the full experience, even if they aren’t able to walk the full bridge. According to Scott, he was still able to “…see all of the lights around the river and get up on the walkway during a time it usually isn’t open. Seeing the Mid-Hudson bridge lit up was a plus.”
When looking for a fun, socially distanced, and unique event in the Hudson Valley, this is the perfect event. Because of when The Walkway Over The Hudson staff plans the dates for the night walk, no two views will ever be the same.
“The dates typically are the Friday closest to the new moon and the Friday closest to the full moon. So it’s a pretty different experience. When you’re out there with the new moon the bridge lights and the lights from the city of Poughkeepsie are a lot stronger and it’s a lot darker. When it’s a full moon, it’s a lot brighter and it’s pretty striking.” Geoff Brault described.
