Dinosaurs meet Fire and Ice Festival crowd
Somerset Inc.'s 28th Fire and Ice Festival that kicked off Friday is all about fun, community, dinosaurs and a stone age Flintstone character or two.
The weather could not be more perfect this weekend for a winter outdoor festival. A chill in the air bringing out one's friskiness. Fire pits warming cold hands. Exhibits and vendors presenting unique crafted items to buy and view. Live music, food and games performed throughout downtown or uptown Somerset Borough, depending where one starts on the hills leading to the diamond where Somerset Inc.'s headquarters can be found. There is also camaraderie with old friends and new ones joined on a journey through the streets of the town during the annual festival that include horse carriage rides and standing room only around several fire pits.
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There will be the events unique to the theme of Jurassic Somerset, such as a dinosaur exhibit and hands on reptile encounter.
Somerset Inc. with a staff of three — Regina Coughenour executive director and Kelley Duppstadt and Chantel Snyder — plans the festival for many, many months ahead and draws support from volunteers in the community to continue this three-day festival tradition.
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"We all had so much fun with the theme," Duppstadt said. The festival helps showcase uptown Somerset, she said.
This is Duppstadt's first year with Somerset Inc. She waited with Coughenour and Snyder and numerous volunteers Friday morning to help unload more than 50 ice sculptures from Mastro's trucks.
"It was all hands on deck. Everybody was just smiling and laughing. It was so wonderful to see," she said.
It was hard work. Those ice sculptures are heavy and needed to be placed all over town. And since Somerset Inc. has a small staff, it could not pull off a three-day festival without volunteers.
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At that gathering was the first glimpse of the finished ice sculptures for everyone there.
"It was awesome," Duppstadt said.
According to Mike Mastro, whose company provided the carved ice sculptures found on every street corner and in front of numerous businesses and organizations in Somerset Borough beginning Friday, "I love it, especially the amount of the joy it brings to the community."
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His crew was putting the ice slide together in 300 pound ice blocks in Uptown's Trinity Park along West Main Street. This is the slide's third year as part of the festival, which basically makes it a tradition. When Mastro's crew finishes the slide there will be a total of 10,000 pounds of ice stretching 35 in length and four feet in width.
The cold, overcast day with snow flurries falling on the ice sculptures is "perfect" for this form of live art, he said Friday early afternoon. Meanwhile, the ice sculptures seen around uptown Somerset Borough this weekend will change with the weather, Mastro said. This is what makes them "live art," he said with a grin.
Going with the dinosaur theme will be a traveling mini museum stopping Saturday and Sunday in the Glades Court Mall. The exhibition depicts the prehistoric world of dinosaurs, pieces of history from Ancient Egypt and the Haudenosaunee nations, and animal specimens all from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Somerset Inc. staff said they hope that this year's Fire and Ice Festival theme of Jurrastic Somerset will inspire people to take a trip to Pittsburgh and plan an expedition to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s core exhibition featuring real dinosaur fossils in its Dinosaurs in their Time.
After a taste of what can be learned through the traveling mini museum, an expedition may be in the cards.
This exhibition is home to dozens of original fossils from throughout the Mesozoic Era displayed in scientifically accurate reconstructions of their ancient habitats, according to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History's Facebook page.
"Events like this bring communities together and revitalizes downtowns," said vendor Michael Greenstein, of Pittsburgh. He crafts things like keychains and coasters and can be found over this weekend in the downstairs area of Glades Court Mall with more than 30 other venders from as far away as Massachusetts and Kentucky.
"The vibe on the street is really happy," Duppstadt said.
Coughenour was all smiles as she entered the Fire and Ice Festival headquarters. She spoke of how fun the festival is for the community. "I saw adults get almost giddy," when they stopped in front of the ice sculptures or took part in the board games, a theme in another festival.
"This one and board games were among my favorite themes," she said. "The sculptures look so realistic," Coughenour said.
What impressed and inspired Coughenour was that it took the whole community coming together to transform uptown Somerset.
Admission pins are being snapped up. It appears to be a sell-out festival.
Admission pins are being sold at the Fire & Ice headquarters, along with festival information Friday from 2-8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Dinosaurs meet Fire and Ice Festival crowd for a good time
