Jim Thorpe’s Stay At Home Festival ending

The American Legion Post 304 in Jim Thorpe has hosted its last Stay At Home Festival and fireworks show.

Commander Keith McQuait informed Jim Thorpe Borough Council last week of the organization’s decision to no longer hold the annual July event.

“We know it’s a longtime tradition, but we’re just tired of the hassles,” McQuait said. “It was a pretty unanimous decision by our committee. It just became obstacle after obstacle.”

The Stay At Home Festival is the second popular Jim Thorpe event to call it quits in the past year.

Organizers of the Carbon County St. Patrick’s Day Parade announced in July it would be ending its 21-year run.

McQuait said discussions about the future of the festival started shortly after last year’s event ended, and a formal decision was made about a month and a half ago.

“It wasn’t about the fundraising or the volunteers,” he said. “There were some other obstacles and we just decided to end it.”

Council President Greg Strubinger thanked the Legion for its many years hosting the event and said it would be sorely missed.

“I know a lot goes into it, but we are reconfiguring Memorial Park and maybe somewhere down the road something can happen for the community again, and hopefully the Legion can be involved in whatever type of function that is,” Strubinger said.

The festival costs almost $20,000 a year. In 2017, McQuait said on average the event yields just shy of $3,000 in proceeds.

Councilman John McGuire thanked the Legion for putting any funds made from the festival back into the community.

“They never made a dollar off this,” McGuire said. “I want to thank them for being so community-minded.”

McQuait said the Legion would host its 70th annual fishing derby this spring.

“We’re also celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Legion here in Jim Thorpe in September,” he said. “We’ll continue to support the community through our Memorial Day programs and other ventures.”

Jim Thorpe Mayor Mike Sofranko said several residents and organizations are interested in trying to have some type of community celebration around the Fourth of July.

“By next week, I should be able to give council some kind of update on that proposal,” Sofranko said.