Somerset's Fire & Ice Festival celebrates silver anniversary

A silver anniversary calls for a special celebration and Somerset Inc. is planning one for this year’s Fire & Ice Festival.

Regina Coughenour, the host organization’s executive director, says the Jan. 17-19 event will include a “captivating” fireworks show (6:30 p.m. Friday), Somerset’s first ice slide and silver decor around town.

With a theme of the “Best of 25 Years,” it also will feature the festival’s top 50 sculpture favorites, as determined by committee members, business proprietors and social media, Coughenour says.

Visitors can look for longtime festival carvers Mastro Ice Co. of Pittsburgh to bring back elephants, maple syrup, a palm tree, the USS Somerset and an ice guitar. Interactive sculptures will include games of checkers, chess and cornhole.

Of course, throughout the weekend, visitors can enjoy the carriage rides, food trucks, ice rink, book sale, model railroad and scavenger hunt that keep them coming back year after year.

Fun indoors and out

Held “snow or shine,” Coughenour says, the festival typically attracts thousands of visitors.

A $6 pin, sold at various locations, gets visitors into most of the paid events, or provides a discount, she adds.

The Fireside Lounge will be inside this year, selling beer, wine and spirits at 101 W. Main St. White Horse Brewing Co. is creating a specialty Fire & Ice Anniversary Stout for the occasion, and Glades Pike Winery and Arsenal Cider House will be quenching visitors’ thirsts as well.

“We’ll have additional food trucks. We have some very fun things for kids I’m very excited about,” Coughenour says.

From scavenger hunts to a Laurel Highlands Model Railroad Club train display, a tea party with Anna and Elsa of “Frozen” fame to s’more making, children’s yoga and carriage rides, there are plenty of activities to keep families busy.

Chili and soup cook-offs are planned, and the Winter Wares Marketplace will feature everything from cold weather wear to local farmers’ jams and jellies and produce to locally made pottery.

The 5K Walk/Run (10 a.m. Saturday) typically draws 200 or more racers, Coughenour says. Location is Somerset Junior High School, 645 S. Columbia Ave., entry fee is $30.

Musical entertainment will include The Boomers at the American Legion from 8 to 11 p.m. Friday and The Switch at the Fraternal Order of Eagles from 8 to 11 p.m. Saturday.

Coughenour recommends the ice rink, moving to the front of the county courthouse this year, as a photo op.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the courthouse, at 111 E. Union St., Coughenour says is “very picturesque.”

She encourages visitors to make their first stop the Somerset Inc. offices at 130 N. Center Ave., where they can pick up festival guide books and maps.