Holiday Train Show at The New York Botanical Garden, Now – January 10

The Holiday Train Show in the Victorian-style Enid A. Haupt Conservatory beckons visitors to enter a magical world under glass brimming with history and enchantment. Here among an acre of plants, large-gauge model trains and trolleys chug past skyscrapers, museums, mansions, brownstones, bridges, ballparks, and more than 100 replicas of New York landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Brooklyn Bridge, Yankee Stadium, and Radio City Music Hall – all created from plant parts such as bark, moss, twigs, berries, and cones.

This year, the original Pennsylvania Station (1910–1964) makes its debut. The 20-square foot replica features the “Grand Concourse” and a cutaway view to train tracks beneath the station with a shuttling passenger train. A rendition of the iconic Brooks Brothers flagship on Madison Avenue, the first clothing retailer in the country, is also new to this 18th annual show. Trains include 1800s American steam engines, streetcars, whimsical ladybugs, circus cars, modern freight and high-speed passenger trains.

Don’t forget the kids! A gingerbread jazz band, ice skaters, and a farmer are among the colorful characters providing a festive atmosphere as participants also plant up wheat seeds, develop field research notebooks, and decorate their own gingersnap cookies in the Gingerbread Adventures program. See puppet shows and get photos of your kids with Thomas the Tank Engine™.
New York Botanical garden: www.nybg.org

An Elizabethan Banquet, Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, Now – January 3

This Holiday Season, the exhibition, An Elizabethan Banquet, takes place in Coe Hall, the Elizabethan Revival-style Gold Coast mansion in Oyster Bay, Long Island. On display: Cate Blanchett’s actual costumes (lent by Universal Studios) that she wore as Queen Elizabeth 1st in the movie, Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Queen Elizabeth wore clothes with masses of jewels, feathers and embroidery. Elizabeth: The Golden Age shows continuously in Coe Hall.

The costumes are part of The Elizabethan Banquet studded with gold cups, great platters and salt cellars made from thrift store purchases and dollar store artifacts. The Great Hall has been transformed into a grand Renaissance banquet chamber. Elaborate gold and silver displays, typical of royal occasions 400 years ago, were recreated using over 300 decorative objects made from dollar store and thrift store remnants. Used toys, discarded vases, old stands for table lamps, and even part of a truck tire were imaginatively combined to look like a 1600s’ royal banquet. Miniature winged horses and mechanical singing birds of the type first made by in 16th-century goldsmiths for dining room tables.

Henry B. Joyce, Executive Director of Planting Fields Foundation and specialist in English gold and silver-gilt history, created the exhibition. The Great Hall display interprets history by bringing it to life. Take a visit back in Elizabethan time.
Planting Fields Arboretum: www.plantingfields.org