With one fall foliage festival weekend down and two to go, officials in Jim Thorpe had praise and some suggestions for managing the town’s most popular event.

It’s estimated that the number of cars parking during the first weekend of the festival doubled the total on the same weekend in 2017, but the crowds for the final two weeks of the festival are going to be even larger.

“So that’s encouraging. Of course this weekend and next weekend should be the peak weekends,” said Michael Rivkin of Jim Thorpe Tourism Agency.

Rivkin thanked the borough and especially Jim Thorpe Police Chief Joseph Schatz for helping with the first week of the festival.

This year, volunteer crossing guards have been helping people navigate Hazard Square, while police officers operate the traffic lights.

And the borough prohibited parking on the east side of the square so traffic can continue to flow while drivers wait to pay to enter the county parking lot.

Dan Ward, whose Scout troop is among the many volunteers who help coordinate traffic and shuttle buses around the borough, said a new route for shuttle buses has made loading and unloading safer for pedestrians and volunteers.

“The new bus route we’re using this year eliminated a lot of high risks,” he said.

Officials had high praise for the Boy Scouts. Rivkin said Ward, the Scoutmaster, is instrumental in formulating the volunteer schedule. Council President Greg Strubinger echoed that praise.

“Keep up the good work. We don’t know what we’d do without you,” Strubinger said.

Mayor Michael Sofranko said he’s heard lots of compliments about the crossing guards, and he’s impressed with the volunteer efforts.

“They’re doing a great job — we’ve had great comments about the crossing guards and the help,” he said.

He said in the future, he would like to see Jim Thorpe Police be free to patrol the festival itself on foot.

He suggested having JTTA hire a company like Flagger Force to take over operating the lights.

He said the festival has been very fortunate, but controlling the lights could impede the officers’ ability to respond to an emergency during the festival.

“We do have so many volunteers that are helping out right now — if they do get into some type of confrontation, to try to break a police officer off to help them can be taxing,” he said.

Sofranko said he would also like to see more signage to let drivers know there is a separate turn lane for cars headed into the county parking lot.

Councilman Jay Miller said he would like to see the county bill drivers for using the parking lot as they leave, instead of as they come in, which would potentially reduce traffic even further.