Jim Thorpe observes All Hallows Eve

Residents of Jim Thorpe came together on All Hallows Eve, to sweep historic Race Street and help lost souls move on from this plane of existence.

At the Rex House located at 29 Race St., owner David Price hosted the annual sweep and reading of Edger Allen Poe’s classic suspense poem, “The Raven.”

Opening the evening’s ceremony, Price read a poem about former owner Edward Rex and the 3 a.m. rolling of a 500-pound granite ball from his monument located in the Mauch Chunk Cemetery.

In 1980, the ball made a half-mile descent across the Switchback Trail, from the Heights, across Broadway and finally stopped on Race Street coming to rest where the family had lived for decades operating a coffee warehouse next door in the Times House Bed and Breakfast.

“I’ve heard about the event before and this year we couldn’t miss it,” said Michael Rivkin.

“The sweeping was really heavy. I’d heard the story of the ball but to hear it in prose form was cool. To see these little neighborhoods, Broadway and West Broadway is really neat. Each one is more unique than the next in Old Mauch Chunk,” he said.

The annual sweeping began almost 10 years ago with a small local group of “old timers,” as Edna Brennan calls them.

“I came down one night and saw this lovely ceremony going on and the sweeping so I try to make it every year,” she said.

“I’m 78 and I manage to sweep my little broom. It’s great.”

According to Brennan, every year the event grows with more attendance, “It’s a grand little get together and it gets bigger each year.”

Resident Kyle O’Brien attended the event for his third year and complimented Christian Gould reading “The Raven.”

“(He) did a fantastic job and David is a gracious host. I hope it stays a tradition.”

Price recently placed his home on the real estate market and plans to make a home in Bethlehem after 32 years on Race Street.

“I absolutely will be back for the sweeping. As long as people come out I’ll come back,” Price said.

“Jim Thorpe is a wonderful place.”

Price surveyed his drawing room filled with 25 people enjoying brownies and warm cider as the evening drew to a close saying, “It’s a good turn out.”

“It was a small group about five or six years ago. After that we started to invite the neighborhood. It’s a fun thing to do on Halloween. You get older and you don’t trick or treat so you have to do something.”