The Jim Thorpe Chamber of Commerce will host its 17th annual WinterFest Weekend Saturday, Feb. 19 and Sunday, Feb. 20 on Presidents Day Weekend.

A mix of family activities, special shopping and dining promotions and performances at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, mark a weekend of winter fun in Jim Thorpe.Ice and wood carvers ply their trades in the downtown Josiah White Park next to the Jersey Central train station, and also give demonstrations two blocks up the street at the opera house Saturday and Sunday afternoon.Living history highlights the weekend activities as Civil War reenactors The Pennsylvania 69th Irish Volunteer Infantry performs demonstrations and leads children's activities.The weekend will also feature a chamber of commerce fundraiser Mug Walk during which, for the price of a $10 Jim Thorpe mug, visitors can look for signs which indicate participating shops and stores that will fill those mugs with something free, including cookies, soup, coffee and other surprises.Saturday afternoon from 12:30 to 3:30 the Faculty Brass, a Lehighton-based quartet playing tunes of all genres from marches and polkas to recent pop tunes, will perform as they stroll up and down Broadway.The Ben Arnold Band will perform at the Mauch Chunk Opera House at 8:30 p.m. Tickets can be reserved by calling the box office at (570) 325-0249 or visiting

www.MauchChunkOperaHouse.com.A special 6 p.m. opera house classical performance on Sunday features Lehigh University pianist Helen Beedle performing 19th-century classical salon music. Transporting the audience to another time with inspiring versions of L.M. Gottschalk's "The Banjo" and the lyric strains of "Home Sweet Home," her repertoire also includes works by African American composers Thomas Greene Wiggins and Francis Johnson, and the songs of Stephen Foster. She will be accompanied by the acclaimed Jari Villanueva on cornet.For more information call (570) 325-5810 or visit the official Jim Thorpe website,

http://www.JimThorpe.org.