The Festival of Ice returns to Clarks Summit this weekend

Clarks Summit Festival of Ice 2023 comes to town Jan 27 through Jan 29 to celebrate an "Around the World" theme.

Photo Credit - VisitNEPA.org

Clarks Summit Festival of Ice 2023 comes to town Jan 27 through Jan 29 to celebrate an "Around the World" theme.

CLARKS SUMMIT — What can people look forward to this year at The Clarks Summit Festival of Ice? Well, a little bit of everything from all around the world. The wintry festival celebrates its 19th anniversary with an "Around the World" theme that kicks off Friday.

Clarks Summit offers icy fun for the whole family with carvings, food and events throughout the town from Jan. 27 to Jan. 29. Event organizer and owner of Imagine NEPA, Katie Lane, said they already have 59 ice carvings ready to go, making "Around the World" one of their biggest years on record.

Several of the ice sculptures are extremely large, including an eight-block New York City skyline. Yes, you heard right, eight blocks … and that's just one of the incredible carvings on display.

Aside from the sculptures, attendees will enjoy entertainment, shopping, food, parade and more.

"I’m most excited, being a musician and performer myself, that we were able to secure the Showmobile stage. That will new this year and we’ve filled it with entertainment! We have live music, a sitar player, a Bollywood dancer; a little bit of everything to celebrate the "Around the World" theme," said Lane.

There are also "passports" this year, sponsored by Lehigh Valley Heath Dickson City Hospital, which will help guide you to everything on the map. These passports turn your weekend into a fun, free scavenger hunt and will have information about all events and locations happening throughout The Festival of Ice.

Passports will be available at seven different locations, which will also offer passport stamps so that you can collect them all! Pick them up and start your adventure at Imagine NEPA/Grateful Roast, The Gathering Place, LFG, Stately Pet Supply, Everything Natural, Pure Suds/Beta Bread/Edward Jones, or The Crystal Conclusion/Wink. This will be a great educational game for the kids and will help to navigate the festival.

In addition to live entertainment and event passports, participating restaurants will also be serving specialty food to fit the theme. Many shops and businesses are also doing their part to represent different cultures, such as worldly art workshops at Abington Art Studio or the live giant dragon carving at Waverly Community House's "Fire & Ice" event.

Lane says don't thank her, thank the small businesses of Clarks Summit that really make this huge event happen every year. "This festival is a gift from the business owners to the community. If the businesses did not get behind this and pull their resources, we would never be able to do this."

Lane, who's been volunteering for the event since she opened her business, said she and her committee picked "Around the World" because the theme opened up so many possibilities. "I could really visualize it," said Lane. "As a committee, we all came together and picked this one so that everyone could really enjoy and get in on it!

The theme sparked a lot of great ideas from the gigantic ice sculptures created by Sculpted Ice Works in the Poconos to the beautiful windows paintings completed every year in Clarks Summit businesses by Darleen Milas. "We wanted to be really inclusive with our community. We wanted to represent as many cultures as possible."

Come out, support local, and travel the world Jan. 27 to Jan. 29 at the Clarks Summit Festival of Ice.

Live Music and Events