SCRANTON, Pa. — It was Friday night in the Electric City and a brand-new festival kicked off at an interesting time - Scranton's first-ever ice festival got underway!
Its inaugural edition comes as so many other festivals are being canceled.
At the Hilton on Adams Avenue in Scranton, live music pumped from an outdoor speaker as a band inside entertained spectators on the outside to maintain social distancing.
This is just one of the many attractions for the first-ever Ice Festival in the Electric City that runs through Sunday and these two friends got in tune with the beats.
They both agree that in this time during the pandemic, when so many things are being canceled, it's wonderful to have something fun to do.
“Obviously you can't go out much so it's great to have something that's, it promotes social distancing but you can still be active and meet new people,” said Gianna Cancelling from Eynon.
“I was just going to say, because of the live music, it's fun, it seems fun again, you know?” said Kayla Collura from Dunmore “This is the most I've ever seen in downtown Scranton since last March so it's really great.”
Getting large crowds into downtown Scranton was the purpose of the ice festival.
The Scranton Area Community Foundation put this together to help small businesses downtown.
Alex Molfetas is the owner of Center City Print on Penn Avenue. He donated his services to the festival by printing signs.
“When they approached, I said absolutely. What do we need?” said Molfetas. “We need a street banner, we need sponsor signs, we need sponsor packets, we posters. I'm like I got that.”
More than 50 businesses in the downtown are participating with their own ice sculptures on display. People can buy tickets to vote on their favorite one.
Money from ticket sales will go to the Scranton Small Business Relief Fund.
Behind Posh Restaurant, an ice sculpting demonstration was put on so families could watch ice be turned into art.
“This is a very nice way to get outside, check out the ice festival with the kids and you know, try to support some of the businesses in Scranton,” said Trisha Tabron who brought her family from Wilkes-Barre to see the festival.
For more information on the ice festival in Scranton, check out their website.