Sinterklaas Festival Day
Rhinebeck, New York
"...just a smile away from Whoville with a hint of It's a Wonderful Life."
—Huffington Post

Buy a Star—Feed A Family

Sinterklaas STARS feed both the body and the soul!

Sinterklaas addresses food insecurity in our community by allocating a portion of each star sold to our local food pantries.

 

Buy Sinterklaas Stars Online

$20 each plus shipping

Stars will be available in local stores starting November 1, 2023!

When they are, you can purchase them at one of these shops around town for $20 while supplies last.

Albert Shahinian Fine Art

Equis Art Gallery

Hummingbird Jewelers

Land of Oz

Merriweathers

Mirbeau Inn and Spa

Paper Trail

Pegasus

Periwinkles

Rhinebeck Artist’s Shop

Rhinebeck Mercantile

Samuels Sweet Shop

Starrybird Kids

Sunflower Market

The Beekman Arms

The Clothes Tree

The Epicurean

Williams Lumber

Willow Wood

Winter Sun & Summer Moon

Zephyr Boutique

Zimmer Brothers

 

Why do you need a star?

Carry Stars in the Parade | sinterklaashudsonvalley.com
Families carry their stars in the annual Children’s Starlight Parade.

These are no ordinary Stars…

From the moment you take possession of this star, you assume a key role in the Sinterklaas community tradition — honoring the CHILDREN.
Join hundreds of your neighbors, friends, and family — carry your star on the first Saturday in December on the Sinterklaas Festival in the Children’s Starlight Parade that culminates in an illuminated pageant in the very heart of Rhinebeck.

Carry your star in your own way

Perhaps close to your chest and cradled with care, or held aloft dangling freely in the winter breeze. A gathering constellation will light the path for the many children who, bedecked in crowns and branches of their own creation, are the honored Kings and Queens of the Day.

 

You will want a star for the Sinterklaas Pageant Ceremony in Rhinebeck!

captivated child with sinterklaas star | sinterklaashudsonvalley.com
Honor the children with a Sinterklaas Illuminated Star!

Follow the Parade along to the Pageant Stage.  At the end of the Pageant that is the culmination of the entire Festival, everyone will gather for the final ritual, the moment you and your star have been waiting for. The Master of Ceremonies will call upon all those present to honor our children, our hope for the future, our joy of today. He will ask you to bow down on one knee to the children. At that moment, you will bow down and hold your STAR at the children’s waist level — elevating them, for a brief moment, on a sea of stars above everyone in the community. Then, you will be asked to stand again and raise your star above your heads — thus placing you, the children and the entire community in its proper place in the firmament — all of us as one and at peace under the stars.

 

A Star at Home

After the evening’s festivities are over, you take your star home with you to grace your hearth throughout the dark winter with the vivid memory–like a burning ember — of when we all came together to celebrate our children, our community, our lives and each other.

sinterklaashundsonvalley.com