SCRANTON -- The Electric City was not so electric as it was locked by dangerously frigid temperatures.
While temperatures barely made it into the double digits, with the wind chill it felt downright subzero.
That sort of put a freeze on Scranton's first First Friday event for 2018 at Ale Mary's where workers say the scheduled artist canceled due to the cold.
“I think she was feeling a little under the weather because she did feel bad about canceling but just too cold, couldn`t do it so I don`t blame her,” said employee Caitlin McGrath.
People coming here for First Friday sort of figured it might be a bust.
“Yeah, it's disappointing,” said Sharon Wood from Wilkes-Barre. “I’m sure the first one of the year was a letdown to not have but there's always February.”
At Posh Restaurant two artists from the University of Scranton were hosting their very first First Friday showing and said they couldn't let the cold keep them away.
“We planned this a few months out and we were just in sort of the planning phase and not really worried about the weather,” said junior Shandon Black.
“Not many people coming out but it's good to get our feet wet,” said junior Meghan Gavin.
But they have some very loyal friends who braved the bitter weather to see their displays.
“I wanted to support them because they have amazing artwork. they've all worked really hard on it,” said friend Colleen Weaver. “I couldn't imagine trying to do any this stuff myself.”
However, at The Key's the owners of The Peculiar Slurp Shop were extremely happy with the turnout.
They knew people would be here to slurp up their ramen bowels.
“The response on social media was great and a lot of people were private messaging and calling,” said owner Eugene Philbin. “But mostly they're saying you're going to have hot bowls of soup on a really cold day with a big pile of noodle for dirt cheap, we're coming.”
“We both got the vegan ramen bowl,” said Amy McCarthy of Clarks Summit. “It's so like comforting and warm and steamy. I was definitely worth coming out, definitely.”