This archive report was first published on 23 October 2019.
Located about an hour north of Times Square, Sleepy Hollow has undergone a significant transformation in recent years. The village's rebranding began in 1996, following the closure of the local General Motors plant, which had once employed 4,000 workers.
As reported by The New York Times in 2019, the village voted to rename itself Sleepy Hollow, in honor of Washington Irving's short story 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.'
According to village historian Henry Steiner, the name change was an opportunity to 'seize this world-famous identity that had been buried.' The move has been successful, with around 100,000 tourists visiting the village of 10,000 in October.
Today, the village is home to a range of Halloween-themed attractions, including Sleepy Hollow High School's unsettling mascot, the Headless Horseman. The long-vacant General Motors site is also being redeveloped as Edge-on-Hudson, a $1 billion residential and commercial development.
However, Mayor Ken Wray has emphasized that Sleepy Hollow is more than just a Halloween destination, saying, 'We don’t want people to think that Sleepy Hollow is, year-round, all about spooky stuff, because it’s not.'
