Crowds continue to pour into Jim Thorpe this weekend for the second weekend of the fall foliage festival.

The festival, held the first three weekends in October, continues next weekend, Oct. 18 and 19.

One adventure that brings in the crowds is the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway. Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad, which owns the trains, is operating on their Autumn Leaf Season schedule now through Nov. 17.

The line for tickets stretched from the ticket booth all the way back to the county entrance by 7 a.m. Saturday. The ticket booth opens at 7 a.m. on the weekends.

The trains are one of the main reasons that Shelby Garofalo and Kellie Lexa, both from South Jersey,

“We came for the train,” Lexa exclaimed. “This is our first time here, so we weren’t sure what to expect.”

The train ride was fun, especially in the open-air cars. It was cold; but, the leaves are starting to change, and an announcer pointed out areas of interest along the 45-minute trip.

And, apparently, a couple in one of the cars got engaged during the trip.

The diesel engines were working, with several sets of train cars taking the tours.

The steam train locomotive 2102, is expected to be there on Oct. 18.

Plenty of delicious food was available. The Doggie Wagon was back with hot dogs, hot drinks, and more. Tommy’s from Jim Thorpe had their food truck there as well. Carmella’s Bakery, a favorite most weekends at the park, presented an array of baked goods.

Gary Wagner is one of the vendors that has been part of the festival the past 15 years.

“It gets bigger every year, which is good,” Wagner observed. “It brings people together to have a good time.”

There were other food vendors, along with craft vendors and information on events around Jim Thorpe.

The Jim Thorpe Trolley Company offered tours during the festival as well.

The festival included live music to entertain the crowds. Teacher and the Poet were on stage Saturday. The band is made up of Bridget McFadden, vocals; Tyler Mangold, guitar and vocals; Dave Ingrassia, bass; and Ace Hendrix, drums.

“We’ve been together almost seven years, and we play anything from hard rock, a little bit of metal, jazz, and the pop music of today.” Mangold shared.

People do travel from near and far to attend the festival. One group of women were there enjoying a girls day out. Courtney Gulla from Tafton; Jamie Wagenhoffer from Dingmans Ferry; Melanie Gozzolino from Candensis and Alissa Depadua from Matamoras, all work together and decided to make the trip to Jim Thorpe.

“I was here at the festival before,” Wagenhoffer explained. “My husband was originally from Jim Thorpe.”

“We saw the videos of the train and fall foliage on TikTok, so we decided we wanted to come,” Depadua explained. “We got our train tickets, we’re excited.”

Festival parking is available at the Carbon County parking lot, near the train station and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church parking lot, 178 West Broadway, plus on-street parking. Other parking lots that offer shuttle service include the Mauch Chunk Lake Park, 625 Lentz Trail; Sam Miller Field, 122 North Avenue in the Heights; Pocono Whitewater, 1519 State Route 903; and Whitewater Rafting Adventures, 101 West Adventure Trail, Nesquehoning. For detail including costs and shuttle times, visit https://www.poconomountains.com/jim-thorpe/parking/

During the festival, the Jim Thorpe Heights is altering traffic patterns over the weekend. Packer Hill Avenue will be closed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

One-way roadway on Center Avenue heading west from Walnut Avenue to Cedar Avenue, and all vehicles parked on the odd side of Center Avenue must be moved to face west starting at 4 p.m. on Friday and can return to normal parking on Monday morning.

One-way roadway on South Avenue heading east from Cedar Avenue to Walnut Avenue, with all vehicles parked on the even side of South Avenue must be moved to face east starting at 4 p.m. on Friday and can return to normal parking on Monday morning.