<\/span><\/h2>\nIt happens all over the country: New Orleans has Mardi Gras. Manhattan is impossible between Christmas and New Year’s. And these days, Nantucket, MA, is so overrun by tourists every summer, workers are sleeping in their cars from May to September due to a lack of housing.<\/p>\n
Now, the pair of neighboring villages in New York’s Westchester County are feeling their own growing pains of being a tourist destination once a year. Home to roughly 20,000 residents between them, the two towns are currently coveted seller’s markets, with buyers gobbling up properties quickly after they hit the market to live with accessibility to Manhattan and soak in the natural surroundings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In September 2025, the median listing home price in Sleepy Hollow was $1.7 million, trending up 38.1% year over year, while it stood at $824,500 in Tarrytown during the same time, according to the most recent Realtor.com\u00ae data.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While an idyllic place to live, the small town\u2019s charm is matched by its small town size, meaning it\u2019s far from equipped to be a tourist destination, even for only a few weeks. <\/p>\n
And the lack of infrastructure for visitors has made it difficult for residents to enjoy their towns during the Halloween season. <\/p>\nBeekman Street is the main center of commerce in this small town located just outside of NYC as well as the location of the annual Halloween parade. (Getty Images )<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLucia Ballas-Traynor <\/strong>has been involved with the local Chamber of Commerce for five years, the last two years in the executive director position. She\u2019s seen firsthand what\u2019s been happening in her town.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cPrior to COVID, the annual street fair would get 5 to 6,000 people attending,\u201d she told Realtor.com. \u201cIn the past couple years, it\u2019s increased to 20-25,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
An astronomical jump in attendance, especially when you consider the street fair is only three blocks long. And locals are feeling the crunch. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone around here knows, halfway through September, buckle up because it’s starting,\u201d one lifelong resident explained to Realtor.com. As a local teacher, they\u2019ve seen how the area has changed from witnessing a handful of tourists stopping by to throngs of visitors \u201cdescending upon the village\u201d because of social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanna say it was our Halloween parade four years ago, where we had more tourists come to town for our parade than we have residents in the village,\u201d they added. \u201cIt’s been a lot to manage.\u201c<\/p>\n
<\/span>Halloween horrors and how the town\u2019s responding <\/span><\/h2>\nAlong with the aforementioned parade and street fair, Sleepy Hollow has met the demand of visitors by adding cemetery tours, artisan shopping, and the Great Jack O\u2019Lantern Blaze, which is technically in Croton a few towns over.<\/p>\n
But when it comes to the main events in town, and hoards of out-of-towners start flooding in, the town\u2019s main responsibility\u2014and perhaps the biggest complaint from residents\u2014is clearing the \u201cmain artery\u201d of the community, as Ballas-Traynor calls it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Route 9 is the only way in or out of the area; it\u2019s also the location of one of the town\u2019s main attractions\u2014a 18-foot-tall sculpture of the Headless Horseman chasing Ichabod Crane, created by local artist Linda Perlmutte<\/strong>. So, as you might imagine, especially on weekends, traffic control becomes a main priority.<\/p>\n\u201cThere\u2019s so much traffic,\u201d Ballas-Traynor recalls, thinking back to that first street fair after the pandemic. \u201cThere\u2019s just no parking anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s been the case ever since. So much so that the villages hired a “specialist” to help with traffic flow, and the Chamber of Commerce started an active campaign to encourage visitors to take the train if they\u2019re coming in for the day. The initiatives have helped, but only so much.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to go down to the restaurant,\u201d the resident told Realtor.com. \u201cI just want to walk down the street. I want to drive to see my parents on the weekends and I can’t. It takes too long to go see them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Reddit, another local said, \u201cThis happens every year. All of October is a madhouse and it takes forever to go anywhere because of all of the pedestrians with no regard for their safety or others blindly walking in the street without looking and stopping to take pictures. <\/p>\n
‘We have been here for four years and have never been able to enjoy any of the fall festivities because tickets are always gone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nA scenic look along the Hudson River shoreline in the village of Sleepy Hollow in New York state. (Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/span>Does it help the town to go viral?<\/span><\/h2>\nWith all of this said, one might think that the upside to the influx of tourists equals an influx of money coming into the town. <\/p>\n
While that is definitely the case for the local restaurants and shops, for the town itself, it actually costs more money. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an expense,\u201d Ballas-Traynor explains. \u201cTourism doesn\u2019t generate revenue [for the town]. It means you have to hire and increase security, sanitation folks, police, etc. There\u2019s a lot of other costs associated with it. Maybe you haven\u2019t even thought of this, but even people using bathrooms in some of the businesses that aren\u2019t used to having all these visitors can lead to extra plumbing costs. Or the cemetery having to rent porta potties\u2014and not just pay for the porta potties, but also for their servicing.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the residents are paying their fair share as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, on Halloween itself, we had so many out-of-towners, people coming from other towns to trick or treat in the town that by 5:30, almost everyone had run out of candy,\u201d the local teacher shared. \u201cAnd candy is expensive!\u201d<\/p>\n
And yet, Ballas-Traynor admits that it might all be worth it, maybe not for the residents but for the business owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a month or two out of the year,\u201d she adds. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a lifeline to these businesses. It’s still manageable enough. It’s not like Salem or like other places where it\u2019s completely out of hand. I don’t think we’ve reached that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
It certainly hasn\u2019t deterred potential new residents from clamoring to move in either. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people that come to visit, they\u2019re like, \u2018oh my God I would love to live here.\u2019 And not necessarily because of Halloween, but because of nature and because of accessibility for the city,\u201d Ballas-Traynor says. <\/p>\n
But in a commitment to the residents, Ballas-Traynor shared that truly local events for this Halloween, like trunk or treats, were kept off social media pages to preserve the experiences for locals. One resident had another suggestion.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we get a stipend from the town for candy?!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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