Pictured are members of the festival committee. From left: Janice Bevacqua, Noreen Thomas, Katie Lane, Diane Calabro and Charlie Sandercock.
Submitted photo
CLARKS SUMMIT — The 19th annual Festival of Ice will bring huge ice sculptures and live performers to State Street on Jan. 27, 28 and 29.
This year the festival’s theme will be “Around the World” and participants will have a chance to pick up a “passport” and make their way through the festival identifying different countries.
The event is sponsored by Abington Business and Professional Association. It is geared at bringing business to the downtown area and beyond.
Katie Lane, festival coordinator, pointed to that business often slows down following the holiday season.
The festival brings people out to local businesses, often providing the business necessary to make it through the first few months of the year.
“When people come out this year, they can go to seven different locations to pick up a ‘passport,’” Lane said. “The passport will allow them to collect stamps from the various locations and contain a map of where the sculptures will be, a list of specialty foods, and a list of retailers and an entertainment schedule. It’s a fun little twist this year.”
The event will also feature an elevated stage this year, which will provide some protection against the weather.
Entertainment will include Irish step dancing, bollywood dancing, a jazz band and a variety of local bands.
Lane, who is also co-director of NEPA Imagine!, is looking to a reptile show there Saturday which will provide children a chance to touch and hold the creatures, in addition to learning about them.
A new twist on Friday’s parade this year is lighted entries, Lane said.
“Since it’s a nighttime parade, the floats and entries will be lighted,” she said. “We don’t really know what that’s going to look like yet.”
Like many area families, the festival has become tradition for Lane’s family.
Here children, ages 5, 8 and 9, are looking forward to the parade, to the ice sculptures and a weekend of activity, during a month that often finds children bored and looking for things to do.
Lane said most of those who come out look forward to taking photos of the striking ice sculptures, often posting them to social media.
Businesses sponsor sculptures for a fee starting at about $300. Some of the sculptures are constructed at the festival and some are brought in already completed.
Many businesses expand their hours for the weekend, so they are open for the festival.
As for the weather, Lane said temperatures have ranged from single digits to 55 degrees.
She believes that probably the best temperature for ice sculptures is just below freezing.
But, weather has never been a deterrent to the success of the festival, she said, with those attending looking forward to food, fun and a chance for some time out to kick off the winter season.
