A dino-mite ice festival

CLARKS SUMMIT — The 20th annual Clarks Summit ice festival went way back to old times when dinosaurs roamed the earth like the 60s when the Flintstones was a popular cartoon and the 90s when Jurassic Park was a popular book and movie.

That’s because the theme this year was Jurassic Ice. During the weekend of Friday, Jan. 26 to Sunday, Jan. 28, people came to Clarks Summit enjoying ice sculptures of dinosaurs and other prehistoric-related activities.

The festivities started with a parade on Friday night. The Abington Heights Marching Band played the theme from Jurassic Park. A golf cart was designed as the Flintstones’ foot-mobile by members of The Gathering Place including Kade Gillette, Amanda Waters, Joe Waters, and Sue Whitman. It was called the ‘yabba dabba do’ car.

Children from different age ranges became princes and princesses of the ice festival. The prince and princess of the 3-to-5-year-old category were Vincent Bevilacqua and Andersyn Eloise; 6-to-10-year-old category, Jack Grotzinger and Adalynn Sheridan; 11-to-14-year-old category, Vanessa Therkorn.

The Gathering Place became the ‘Bedrock Bistro’ for the weekend. Volunteers made foods and drinks, including fossil franks. The Abington Heights Civic League allowed kids to make bracelets with little dinosaur ornaments and helped them put beads on them. Kids also got to color dinosaurs in coloring books.

The Appalachian Service Project (ASP) sold cookies, cocoa bombs and gluten-free snacks to raise money for their upcoming service trip during the 4th of July weekend.

At Pocket Park on Depot Street, park ranger Eric of Jurassic Raptor 570 showed and discussed fossil-related items such as T-rex teeth and a real mosquito inside fake amber. There was a drawing for a free birthday party for people who follow Jurassic Park 570 on Facebook.

Ice sculptures of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals were around downtown Clarks Summit. Evan Hughes, ice carver of Sculpted Ice Works, made a T-rex outside Everything Natural and a T-rex skull in front of Jennings-Calvey Funeral and Cremation Services. Chris Calvey, Jr. made pulled pork sandwiches, which were free to the community.

Diana Lombardi held special art classes inside the Abington Art Studio. She taught kids how to make dinosaurs out of clay. Kids also made ceramic dino mugs and dino fossil pendants.

Ice sculptures continued with the annual first responders’ competition. Four local fire departments created their own ice sculptures near Citizen Savings Bank on State Street. The community votes for their favorite sculpture by donating money inside the fire company’s boot. Justin Basalyga (captain) and Nate Rehder (lieutenant), of Chinchilla Hose Company, partnered to create the big doors of the Jurassic Park entrance. Dale Richmond (fire captain) and his son Steve Richmond (firefighter), of the Dalton Fire Company, made a baby dinosaur hatching from an egg. Brady Brunt (lieutenant) and Joey DeFazio (firefighter), of Clarks Summit Fire Company, also carved a hatching dinosaur. The Newton Ransom Volunteer Fire Company won the competition for the third year in a row with Steve Rakauskas and Mitch Cohen making a T-rex. They received a $500 check from the restoration company Damage Control.

Heather Percival, client relations specialist of Damage Control, organizes the first responders competition every year.

“I love doing this,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun. The first responders really have a good time with it. It’s a really great opportunity to get involved, and I like the first responders and how hard they work.”