How do you get to 'Sesame Street'? Head through Westchester

The new season of "Sesame Street" finds Big Bird, Elmo and the gang venturing to Westchester County.

Shooting in summer 2020, with COVID-19 still top of mind, producers of the award-winning series were keen to get outside the Queens studio where "Sesame" is filmed. They ended up shooting episodes at Croton Gorge Park in Cortlandt and Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard in North Salem.

"Sesame Street" was in production when the COVID-19 shutdown happened in March 2020.

“Restarting was definitely a huge production challenge,” said Ben Lehmann, a "Sesame Street" executive producer. “We realized being on location and outdoors was probably safer than indoors.”

Seven of the season’s 35 episodes were shot away from Kaufman Astoria Studios. One, entitled “Elmo Mails a Letter,” saw Elmo check out the post office in Queens. The episode “Hike Pirates” sees Abby Cadaby, Rudy and Freddy follow a map to find hidden treasure at Croton Gorge Park. Five farm-themed episodes were shot at Harvest Moon, the first one called “Sesame Street Goes to the Farm.”

The Croton Gorge episode premieres on HBO Max Jan. 6 and the Harvest Moon series begins April 21.

The storylines came out of the necessity of, how do you do production in COVID?” said Lehmann, who is also head of live action for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop that produces "Sesame Street."

Season 52 began Nov. 11. New episodes premiere on HBO Max, and the season airs on PBS Kids in the fall of 2022.

As a trial run for the outdoor shoots, the Sesame gang shot a special episode at a crew member’s home in Katonah. That episode, “Elmo’s Playdate: Scavenger Hunt,” shot with a small crew in early summer 2020, and aired in August 2020.

The Croton Gorge episode is about hiking and healthy habits. The crew and puppets were at the 97-acre county park for one day.

Producers looking to shoot in the county work with Westchester County Office of Tourism and Film to find the ideal locale. Natasha Caputo, department director, said the waterfalls, wooded trails and scenic views at Croton Gorge worked for Sesame.

“It allows for a good backdrop for following a map,” she said. “And there’s ample space for the production to set up and spread out.”

Caputo said former FX drama "The Americans" and Fox drama "The Following" both shot at Croton Gorge in years past. Filming in Westchester, she said, “showcases the spectacular quality of life” in the county.

Peter Tartaglia, first deputy commissioner of Westchester County Parks, Recreation & Conservation, said the department was “thrilled” to have Sesame visit a county park. “Besides,” he added, “who can say no to Elmo and Big Bird?”

The Sesame gang spent six days at Harvest Moon in August 2020, with 35-40 crew members and 10 performers. Kristina Jahaly, general manager at Harvest Moon, said she got a call from "Sesame" producers as they scouted farms to potentially shoot in. “They had lunch and they liked what they saw,” she said.

They liked the farm's quaint barn, the “gorgeous” cow field, and rolling hills of apple trees and vegetables, Jahaly said. “The fact that it is an active, working farm — that attracted them,” she added.

Lehmann said Harvest Moon was pulsing with vitality. “Apples were on the trees, stuff was blooming in all the fields,” he said. “It was just a beautiful time to be there.”

Sesame also wanted a Harvest Moon farmer to appear in the episodes. Jahaly contacted staffer Todd Stevens, who dabbled in theater in college, as he was pruning tomato plants. Besides his theater background, Stevens leads the tour when groups of children visit Harvest Moon.

“I’ve always loved working with children,” he said. “My maturity level is at their same level.”

Stevens mentions 10-hour days on the "Sesame" set at Harvest Moon for a week — a lot of sitting around, hanging with the puppeteers, and then a turn in front of the camera. Getting to know the so-called “Muppeteers” was perhaps the highlight for Stevens.

“It’s like having breakfast with Beethoven,” he said, describing them as “huge-hearted, wonderful people.”

As Westchester residents tune in to see their parks on "Sesame Street," Harvest Moon staffers look forward to watching their work colleague. Said Jahaly, “I can’t wait to see Todd performing alongside Big Bird and Rosita and Elmo.”

Michael Malone is a Hudson Valley freelance writer. Contact him at metro@lohud.com

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: 'Sesame Street' in Westchester: Series filmed in Croton, North Salem