Festival has been growing for 20 years

CLARKS SUMMIT — The Clarks Summit Festival of Ice has been giving locals and non-locals alike a reason to come to the town of Clarks Summit during winter for 20 years.

Its attendances rises each year. That’s thanks to the Abington Business & Professional Association (ABPA), businesses, organizations, and other volunteers who have given their dedication to make it a success throughout the past two decades.

The ice festival began in 2004 when Dorothy O’Connor, who owned a shoe store called Sole to Soul, met with fellow merchants including former owner of Everything Natural Barry Kaplan and Mary Ann Nichols, who owned a former fish market called Atlantic Fish & Fabulous Foods. They discussed plans to do something to promote business and get people into town during the winter.

O’Connor brought up a time that she went to an ice festival elsewhere and had a fun time.

“She (O’Connor) said, ‘We ought to do that here (Clarks Summit),’” said Kaplan. “And I said, ‘I’m going to write the first check.’ I volunteered to pay for a sculpture right then and there.”

The ABPA started planning the ice festival looking for places that make ice sculptures and local businesses that would pay for them. One of the biggest sponsors at the time was Biondi-Franklin Insurance. During the first year, there were 12 sculptures of wild animals, which were made by a company from State College.

The number of sculptures doubled to 24 when the ABPA hired Sculpted Ice Works from Lakeville the next year. Ice sculptor Mark Crouthamel, of Sculpted Ice Works, has been sharing his expertise with the Clarks Summit Festival of Ice for the past 19 years.

He first heard of the festival from a local vendor and decided to throw his name out to Clarks Summit. He always enjoyed doing live ice demonstrations whether it be outside a local business or on a moving trailer for the parade. He made sculptures in different weather conditions, including warm temperatures that would bring the people outside but would melt the ice sooner.

“We’ve definitely been out there with a lot of snow having to shovel to place sculptures,” Crouthamel said. “We’ve been out in the rain sculpting. We’ve been out there in T-shirts with the sun setting up sculptures. We’ve seen it all.”

The festival was initially held during President’s Day weekend. For a few years now, the ice festival has been moved to the end of January since the weather is generally colder and will make the ice sculptures last longer.

Due to his pancreatic cancer, Crouthamel won’t be doing live demonstrations this year but he is hoping that he will still come to the festival and help when he can.

Sam Foster, general manager of Sculpted Ice Works, and assistant manager Lisa Boer will be making most of the sculptures this year. Sculpted Ice Works will still be involved in the annual firemen’s competition, in which members of four fire companies (Clarks Summit Fire Co., Chinchilla Hose Co., Dalton Fire Co., and Newton Ransom Volunteer Fire Co.) assist the ice carvers in making an ice sculpture for each company. People vote for their favorite one by placing a donation in a fireman’s boot.

The event has been organized by Heather Percival, owner of Grace Antony Boutique.

The local businesses have been sponsoring an ice sculpture to place outside their shop. They have been receiving a discount if they ordered ice early. They also received a light for the ice sculpture to shine at night.

Each year, there has been a different theme each year for the past 20 years.

One year when the theme was Olympics. There was a panel discussion with Olympic swimmer Abby Peck, who was born and raised in Clarks Summit.

In 2012, there was a superhero theme, in which ice blocks were transformed into comic book heroes and people were dressed as their favorite superhero. Jeffrey Bevacqua, son of ABPA president Janice Bevacqua, disguised himself as Batman.

In 2021 when the pandemic was going on, the festival celebrated “hometown heroes,” which honored first responders such as nurses and firemen.

The locations of ice sculptures have increased through the years. In addition to State Street, they have been made on Northern Boulevard and Grove Street. As part of the Clarks Summit Festival og Ice, the Waverly Comm has a Fire & Ice Festival, which has live ice-carving demonstrations and a fire pit.

Crouthamel has always been impressed with all of the other festivities due to the community’s involvement.

“I really believe that the Clarks Summit Festival of Ice really should be considered a Clarks Summit festival with ice because there are so much other activities that go on with it,” he said. “The people in all the businesses that support it are so invested in this community.”

Since the beginning of the festival, Clarks Summit Borough has been selling food, including soup and chili at the old Clarks Summit firehouse. Since the firehouse relocated and The Gathering Place opened in its old spot, the food has been sold there. It is to raise funds for the Christmas lights around the downtown area. These lights remain lit and displayed for the ice festival.

Kaplan had been chairing the event for many years.

“Even as chair, it was always a group effort,” he said. “We needed everyone on board.”

This year, the Abington Lions Club and Rotary Club of the Abingtons are working as a fundraising group with Clarks Summit to bring warm refreshments such as hot chocolate and fresh-mulled cider as well as a bake sale for the Appalachian Service Project.

The festival has been very popular throughout the years. Nowadays, about 30,000 people from far and wide come to the festival each year. The ABPA members are proud to have seen this festival grow.

“Every year, it gets bigger and bigger,” said Gerrie Carey, ABPA member and Clarks Summit Council.

“It’s a testament to the volunteers and the borough that organize and get this thing together,” said owner of Summit Frameworks Charlie Sandercock, who has been with the ABPA for 15 years.

Although he’s now living in Colorado, Kaplan is glad to know that this festival is still thriving. He remembers seeing families taking photos by ice sculptures together.

“I love the magic of it all,” he said. “My favorite thing of all was seeing the families come down the street and seeing the kids enjoy it. It really makes me happy that it has lasted all this time and continues.”