Jim Thorpe will celebrate its namesake this weekend.

The 21st annual Jim Thorpe Birthday Celebration will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Josiah White Park in Jim Thorpe.Presented by the Jim Thorpe Tourism Agency, the event will honor Jim Thorpe, a Native American who is considered one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.The celebration will begin with a Native American tribute at the Jim Thorpe Mausoleum at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. John Thorpe (Jim Thorpe's grandson), Don Wild Eagle and others are expected to participate.At 11 a.m., the Jim Thorpe High School Olympian cross country and track teams will carry the lighted torch from the monument to the Jim Thorpe High School Stadium to light the Olympic Torch for the Special Olympic Track and Field Competition, and then down Route 903 to the Heights, down Opera House Hill and then down Broadway to Josiah White Park for the lighting of their Olympic Torch.At noon, there will be an awards ceremony in which Jim Thorpe's Kevan Gentile, who won a gold medal at this year's PIAA Wrestling Championships, will be honored.The weekend will include free musical performances, Native American folklore, dancing and drumming, craft and food vendors, a clown for the children, a large Chinese auction and a headline show at the Mauch Chunk Opera House.There will also be crafts, vendors, food and outdoor and opera house performances around town all weekend.Event coordinator Anne Marie Fitzpatrick said the event will be held rain or shine."We're keeping our fingers crossed on the weather forecast," Fitzpatrick said."We're very proud of our namesake; he's accomplished so much in his lifetime. I feel he deserves all of the honor we can give him."Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpewas born May 28, 1888, and was one of the finest athletes ever to take the field.He won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, played American football at the collegiate and professional levels, and also played professional baseball and basketball, bowled, rode horseback and was even an accomplished ballroom dancer.In 1950, The Associated Press named Thorpe the greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century. In 1999, he was ranked third on their list of top athletes of the 20th century.Thorpe passed away on March 28, 1953.For more information, contact Fitzpatrick at 570-325-9281, or

amnt1@ptd.net.