The Palmerton Community Festival will kick off with a short opening ceremony in the park on Friday afternoon.

Palmerton's UVO color guard will be marching into the ceremony and presenting the flag to start, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Towamensing and S.S. Palmer elementary schools will have a combination chorus sing the national anthem under the direction of Palmer music teacher Carole Burkhardt.UVO Chaplain Joe Uhnak will lead a prayer, followed by a speech concerning his memories of Sept. 11.Mayor Christopher Olivia will reflect on his memories as well, followed by Jane Stroup, vice president of the festival committee."I'm not going to touch on 9/11, per se," Stroup said. "I want to try to reflect on how people changed after that, how people became more patriotic, with strangers helping strangers. I don't want to end the program on sadness. I want to focus on the changes that were brought about, the people that became everyday heroes."Burkhardt will conclude the presentation by singing "God Bless America."The opening ceremony will take place at 4:45 p.m. at the main stage in the borough park, across from First Northern Bank and Trust.The Palmerton Community Band will perform from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the bandstand. The Large Flower Heads will take the main stage from 5:30 to 8 p.m., followed by Georgette Jones, the daughter of George Jones and Tammy Wynette, from 9 to 10:30 p.m.Entertainment sponsors include: Blue Mountain Ski Area, a platinum sponsor; diamond sponsors, Black Box Coffee Bar & Donuttery, Blue Ridge Auto Center, Campton Funeral Home, Country Harvest Family Market, DeSousa Oil & Service, First Northern Bank & Trust, George's P & H, Joey B's, Lehigh Gap LLC, Palmerton Garage Doors, Palmerton Lumber Co., Pencor Services Inc., R & M Restaurant Services, and TK Thomas Funeral Home. The gold sponsors are: Brad Co., DDR Coach, George LaRose Insurance Ltd., Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital, National Penn BancShares Inc., Neffs National Bank, Palmerton Auto Parts, Rentschler Chevrolet Chrysler Jeep, and Saturn Systems.For safety reasons, pets (except for service animals), bikes, skateboards, roller skates, and any type wheeled vehicle are not allowed in the park the entire weekend of the festival.For more information, visit the website at:

www.palmertonfestival.com.Kristine Porter contributed to this report.