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Train rides highlight WinterFest

Published February 12. 2015 04:00PM
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The Jim Thorpe Tourism Agency hosts the 21st annual WinterFest Presidents Day weekend on Saturday and Sunday.

A mix of train rides, family activities, special shopping and dining promotions, and popular opera house performances mark a weekend of winter fun.New for the holiday are trains which will operate three times daily from the Jim Thorpe Visitors Center and Train Station into Lehigh Gorge State Park, Saturday through Monday.Operated by the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, more information about the trains is available on

www.lgsry.com.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 Mauch Chunk Opera House Saturday and Sunday afternoon.Visit IceWork.net and Chainsaw.net for more information.The weekend features an Amazing Jim Thorpe (formerly the Jim Thorpe 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.Also for children under 12 there will be a piñata-busting at the downtown train station at noon on both Saturday and Sunday.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.On both Saturday and Sunday the Amazing Jim Thorpe presents free kids' shows, courtesy of Al Grout, a sensational entertainer who has been performing since 1977, and does over 200 shows a year.Both children and adults will enjoy some of the most difficult and entertaining juggling being done today, all performed while telling jokes and interacting with the audience.On Friday and Saturday the Mauch Chunk Opera House features the band TUSK, a Fleetwood Mac tribute.For more information call 570-325-5810 or visit the official Jim Thorpe website,

http://www.JimThorpe.org for further details.

Neil Trimper of Sandystone, New Jersey, an employee of Sculpted Ice Works in Lakeville, Pennsylvania, carves a saxophone in front of the Opera House in Jim Thorpe. In the forground is an outstretched eagle he carved earlier. Trimper has demonstrated his skills at every Winterfest since its inception.