At the 13th Annual Earth Day Festival held Saturday and Sunday in Josiah White Park in downtown Jim Thorpe, festival goers of all ages enjoyed arts, crafts, food and music, as well as the opportunity to learn more about the environment and ways to help protect and preserve it for future generations.

The two-day festival started out on Saturday morning with a clean up by volunteers on the nearby Lehigh River.In addition to environmental information, vendors provided a wide variety of food items, handmade jewelry, pottery, quilts, tie-dye shirts and an interesting assortment of rocks, minerals and even fossils, as well as other items at the many stands.Musical entertainment over the two-day run was provided by bands playing at both the gazebo in Josiah White Park and at the Mauch Chunk Opera House on Broadway, with all of the bands donating their time and talent to help make the event a success.A team of large white horses took carriage-loads of visitors up Broadway and down Race Street over both days of the festival and a furry bruin by the name of Smokey Bear was spotted making the rounds of the festival grounds.Festival organizer Shelli Holland said there was a great turnout in spite of the cool weather and she was pleased that the rain had held out over both days, making for a beautiful weekend overall.The event was organized by the Jim Thorpe Earth Day Festival with Holland and Penny Shelton, and sponsored by Horizons, which is located at 105 Race St., just off Broadway.Also making the event possible were Brad and Tim Sound and Brad Konstance Lawn Care with Brad Konstance, Tim Perry, Jody Kennedy and Joe Urban donating all of the sound work for the performing music groups during the festival.On Sunday, the Earth Day Festival Auction was held to help support future festivals.