On a sparkling early autumn Sunday, hundreds of festivalgoers crowded the 23-acre grounds of the Jay Estate for Jay Day — our popular annual fall fair.
Bestselling children’s book author Hervé Tullet — who has written eighty books, including the iconic “Press Here” — delighted a crowd of children and adults with a dramatic book reading under the shade of the estate’s tulip tree. He then led the giddy group down to the Jay Meadow, where he orchestrated the creation of a massive Ideal Art Exhibition — in which children dappled huge strips of paper with their own vibrant Tullet-inspired designs.
The talented Yale Spizzwinks(?), the nation’s oldest a cappella group of underclassmen, serenaded attendees with two lively sets — the first from the veranda of the 1838 Peter Augustus Jay Mansion, and the second from atop the van dispensing delicious free ginger brews and zero-sugar natural sodas from our sponsors Reed’s and Virgil’s.
Throngs of shoppers packed Jay Way — the pleasant route leading from the mansion to the 1907 Van Norden Carriage House. Visitors picked up beautiful, creatively designed cookies from Steph’s Sweets, browsed the elegant maps and postcards at the Circle 7 Framing booth, and snapped up unique gifts from the more than a dozen other market stalls.
Nobody went hungry — food trucks including Melt Mobile, Mobile Pie, Road Grub, and Jimmy’s Soft Serve served lunch and treats. Scarborough Fair Catering cooked up brats and hot dogs under a big tent on the circle of lawn in front of the mansion. Inside the house, a string of patient families waited in the dining room to have their profiles cut by the gifted Varin Acevado of Sweet Silhouettes.
The plaza near the Carriage House, meanwhile, was alive with the sounds of Bach to Rock Mamaroneck. Young guests banged away at the drums and impressed the crowd with their improvised electric guitar solos. Near the Zebra Barn, children planted their own mini gardens to take home, while others had their faces painted with vivid butterfly wings under the shade of the estate’s linden trees. A towering stilt walker ambled past the petting zoo — which included a friendly llama.
But it was the entertainment in the lower meadow that some guests enjoyed the most. New this year, visitors could take horse-drawn carriage rides through the meadow — taking in all the beauty of the Jay Estate on a lovely Sunday afternoon.
Thank you to Rye TV for capturing all the fun of Jay Day 2019! Watch a brief video here!
See more photos of Jay Day by Cutty McGill and Kim Crichlow Photography on our Facebook page
