Halloween Lighthouse

At the Winter Regional, Bill mentioned that due to the popularity of the Fall Ft. Tompkins, they will be issuing an annual Halloween Lighthouse starting next year. I don't think he specified LE, but one can hope!

This would appear to be good news for those who like pieces with colorful autumn foliage.

I haven't seen this mentioned elsewhere on the Forums; if it was, then you heard it here second.

Bruce

I'm not sure I like that idea or not. The Fort Tompkins autumn HL is a wonderful piece. It's on display in my main curio but will soon be replaced by the winter version, when I put my Christmas pieces into the main curio.

If they make a Halloween version of a light each year, will it look out of place being displayed during the months other than the Fall? Is Harbour Lights trying to get into the seasonal display market like Dept 56 and others?

Bob

I'm surprised it has taken over a week for this to be posted. I believe the reason Bill indicated an annual type piece is that the fall version of Fort Tompkins was the best seller of the group. What is really surprising is that (as I recall) it is not Digger's favorite of the 4.

Dave

I would like to see another fall piece but not every year. Also I'd like to see a piece where the leaf colors are more accurately depicted. On the Ft. Tompkins model there is too much orange. I had hoped to capture some of our beautiful reds and yellows this year but the weather just didn't cooperate as we had yellow but very little red. A northeast or midwest lighthouse with a couple appropriately colored trees and some mums could be quite stunning.

What Bill said was.... that they will be doing a Halloween lighthouse each year like they do a Christmas lighthouse each year...

Hi Sue, ...Part of the coloring problem is the fact that some people haven't experienced the beautiful colors we have in the Fall in our section of the country. I can only imagine the painters are doing what they think is a rough depiction of our actual colors at that time of the year. More accurate colors would be a plus but I guess the main focus should be depicting the lighthouse itself as true as possible.

Bob

Complete with GHOST seahorses!!!

Your right Dave. The fall version might have won me over if it had only included a cemetery! How could HL's have forgotten such an important feature!!!!!

They could start with Ocracoke OE and include the cementery that is about 30 feet from the tower....

...and maybe they could do a New Year's Eve light with confetti. A Valentine's lighthouse would be wonderful too. Cupid could be out on the parapet shooting arrows at prospective lovers. After that they could do an Easter light with the easter bunny hiding eggs for the lightkeeper's children. Oh, and I've forgotten St. Patty's Day. Lots of shamrocks and some green beer all around the keeper's house after a day of partying. Have I gone too far with this. Is anybody catching my drift. I think the reason that the fall Ft. Tompkins was so popular was because it hadn't been done before. It was a really neat idea. To do it every year would be a bit of an overkill. It wouldn't maintain the "special" quality that the first one had. Christmas is one thing, it's a special time of year uncomparable with any other time. But to do a halloween light every year? That seems to be a bit more of a moneymaker idea than anything else. Please understand I mean no disrespect to HL. I realize that there are a lot of big HL supporters here. I'm one of them. But if HL does this, they may want to look at my list for their next series.

In my humble opinion,
Jared

I'm with you 100% Jared. Once is enough for the Halloween Lighthouse, twice is tooooooo much. Christmas pieces are fine and Society pieces are fine but now Bill is getting carried away just like he did on the GLOWs. Let's use common sense or we will become like Spencer Colin lighthouses. They are so cutesy that they are sickening. Pretty soon we will have rabbits, squirels, birds, etc. Let's just stick with the basics and the seahorses. My opinion also.

Rich

Halloween is now exceeded only by Christmas in terms of merchandising and this 'sales event' is expected to continue growing. Sounds like HL is cashing in on the trend.

How many live in a neighborhood where houses were decorated with Halloween lights this year? Used to be a pumpkin and maybe a few cornstalks with Indian corn (can you still say that?) were all the Harvest decorations one needed. Exactly what you're likely to see on an HL Halloween model. There is a spooky irony here somewhere. ;->

>>Pretty soon we will have rabbits, squirels, birds, etc.<<

Teddy Bears, Rich, Teddy Bears on Limited Edition Halloween Lighthouse models - now there's a collectibles one-two punch if there ever was one. Topped only by the Halloween Lighthouse Teddy Bear holding a miniature Marie Osmond doll dressed as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz! Look closely are those... my goodness yes they are! Teeny Tiny emerald slippers.

Yes, and Toto too,
T

I think Bill got a good hold of someone's leg and is tugging at it pretty hard!

Sounds like an early April Fool's joke!

Or at least one would hope!

I think some of you are missing Bill's point... the Fall edition on Ft Tompkins way out sold the rest of the editions.. Sales! That is what will bring a Halloween lighthouse next year...

How about one of the famous Haunted Lighthouses for Halloween?
Bob

John, maybe you're right. I considered that possibility; that's why I posted it in THIS forum.

However . . . Have you observed the Dept 56 product line lately? They have a large Halloween subset in their Original Snow Village Series that includes haunted houses, ships, a LIGHTHOUSE (oh my!), and a large assortment of figures and other accessories. As Tim states above, Halloween provides a HUGE marketing opportunity.

Personally, I'd be very pleased with an occasional LE in an Autumn setting, just like the couple of winter LE's they've produced that weren't Christmas pieces. The ghost on Fall Ft. Tompkins is novel and cute, and the architecture of the lighthouse certainly lends itself to the "haunted" theme, but once is enough for me.

For Sue and BobM: As a long-time railroad modeler, I can say that autumn foliage is extremely difficult to model realistically in miniature. I think the main problem is that colors as intense as actual fall foliage can easily look gaudy and unrealistic when scaled down. On the other hand, if they're too subtle they don't convey the true beauty of autumn. Maybe Joyce Kilmer was thinking fall.

IMO, the coloration of the foliage on the Fall Ft. Tompkins was attractive and very realistic, while not being so intense as to overpower the light itself. For a first shot (was it the first?), I believe it scored a bulls-eye. Sales would appear to support my opinion.

Bruce

Well, being from a state that doesn't have a change of season, I thought the fall foilage was beautiful. The "Fall" Lighthouse was my favorite of the four lighthouses - I thought the ghost was cute, though it wasn't very historical. They should have done a see-through lightkeeper to keep it historically correct. The jack-o-laterns and coloring added a wonderful touch to my favorite holiday of the year. I would like to see more Halloween lights, but do think that if they come out every year they would get boring and dull - maybe every two or three years would be enough to keep us interested, keep sales up, and be enough to whet our hunger for "fall" lights.

By the way Tim, I would like to let you know that I finally heard the sound!!! The Wizard of Oz MP3 started on my computer and I just about jumped out of my skin! (I wasn't expecting it!) LOL :p Also, to be completely correct - Dorothy wore Ruby Slippers and traveled to the Emerald City. She didn't wear Emerald Slippers, so HL's would be incorrect if the doll wore "teeny tiny emerald slippers". I wonder if that would make the light more valuable with that mistake?!? :p

Imho this would be a start in getting rid of the GLOWS. Issue annual seasonal pieces of some of the most popular LE's and limit them to 5,500. This idea certainly has to be more acceptable now that there is no secondary market on pieces above 5,500. I said it a long time ago, I would rather see new molds of Limited Lighthouses than the continuation of limitless Open Editions!

That's just my opinion

The Christmas piece has a production of 7,500
Would that mean a Halloween issue would have the same.
Take a lighthouse that normally would be hard to sell 5500 of. Make it a special issue and tack on an other 2,500 to the amount produced.
I am okay with a special Fall issue, but make it a special limited edition of 4,000
Put the fun back into collecting.
I agree with Sean
I am also okay with bringing back some of the old favorites for special editions, if this would get rid of the GLOWS.
But I would like to see more 4,000 productions.

"I Do, I do, I do.......
I Do belive in Spooks!"

:p

Interesting idea, I yearly move my Christmas ones out into the rest of the house, my main display area is not readily seen from the rest of the house. I do have some holloween pieces of things that come out during October and get put away after. I guess "Holloween Lights" could be displayed and put away but those would be awfull pricy decorations for just a month of use. My other decorations are mayby $20 tops, and yes I have a couple of "haunted" light house decorations but not anything expensive. Don't know for sure just what I would do about "Holloween Harbour Lights"