CLARKS SUMMIT-- Clarks Summit in Lackawanna County is ‘The Frozen Frontier.’ That's the theme of the 12th annual Clarks Summit Festival of Ice.
“This is my first time, we love it. I came with my husband and we just enjoy looking at all the ice sculptures,” said Emily Kenyon of Factoryville who was walking through the borough Friday holding a cup of hot chocolate.
Keeping with the western theme, there are dozens of ice sculptures from a bandit, a sheriff's badge and a jail.
The festival brings thousands through Clarks Summit each year.
“I normally don't wish for cold weather, but this weekend we certainly do. It brings the crowds out, as long as it's not too cold. It's kind of hard to say what's going to happen,” said David Banks, of The Jewelry Room, a business along State Street in Clarks Summit.
Hard to say, but arctic temperatures are in the forecast all weekend. In fact, record-breaking lows are predicted. The icy air is great for the sculptures, but what about the folks admiring them?
“Really cold, stay bundled up for sure,” laughed Michael Kenyon of Factoryville.
"Our tradition is to find something nice to do in the wintertime to enjoy the cold, bundle up and this is exactly what you're looking for,” said Jay Jacobs of Media, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, who travelled with his wife and daughter for the festival.
Some, including Crossroads Church in the borough, are offering indoor warm ups for those enjoying the festival.
"I think what we offer here is actually helpful because we have hot chocolate, and we have hot cider and we have hot soup and we have cookies and a nice place to come in and warm up!" said Roger Clapp of Crossroads Church.
It's one thing to walk around and admire the sculptures, but it's another to make them. The question is: is it ever too cold to carve ice?
"You can only, a human being can only handle so much cold, but even in terms of ice, the ice lasting, it's perfect, the colder, the better,” said Evan Hughes of Sculpted Ice Works in Lakeville.
Festival organizers say in past years, the temperatures have been too warm to keep the sculptures from melting so they would much rather the cold.
For more information on the event, click here.
