Organizers ‘blown away’ by festival success

26th Annual Festival of Ice sees roughly 6,500 visitors

LEWISTOWN -- Jenny Barron Landis wasn't certain how "Christmas Island" would work in the Juniata Valley.

Based on the numbers, Landis, the executive director of the Juniata River Valley Visitors Bureau, considered this year's 26th Annual Festival of Ice in downtown Lewistown to be a rousing success. "Christmas Island" was the theme for the event.

Estimates put attendance for Thursday at around 4,500 people and another 2,000 for Friday, Landis said. Additionally, more than 31,000 people reached out via Facebook promotions and ads.

One vendor sold 600 whoopie pies on Thursday. Also, 60 gallons of hot chocolate lasted only two hours on Thursday for the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Lewistown.

"The tropical theme was untraditional but was a lot of fun and lent itself to some ice sculpture designs we haven't seen before," Landis said. "There were even flamingoes in the Christmas trees.

"The Historic Courthouse will be decorated through the holiday season," she added.

Visitors are welcome to the Historic Mifflin County Courthouse from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

"We were blown away by the attendance on Thursday evening and pleasantly surprised by the turnout on Friday despite the rain," Landis said. "We use a few benchmarks to make an attendance estimate."

Attendance was difficult to predict as admission to the Festival of Ice was free.

Landis has heard rave reviews about this year's event, except the weather. The ice sculptures have since melted away.

"The ice sculptures held up well through Friday night and glistened in the rain," she explained. "Only a few of the large sculpture bases still survive."

Landis added the Fa La La La La Flamingo Hunt provided an activity during the daytime hours. Eighteen downtown businesses participated by donating prizes, and the Visitor's Bureau received more than 100 entries.