Winter Lights festival to warm up the heart of Milford

MILFORD, PA — Milford will play host to the Ice Theatre of New York just before they fly off to Paris as the main event during the weeklong festival, Winter Lights-Celebrating the Arts. The festival will feature ice skating, ice sculptures and magic, along with theater and films, beginning Saturday, January 24, 2009. It will begin with a parade, along with the Ice Theatre of New York’s performance of “Appalachia Waltz,” and will conclude on Saturday, January 31. The Marie Zimmermann Center for the Arts, led by Michael Carson, in cooperation with Milford Borough Parks and Recreation Committee, is developing the festival.

The focal point of the festivities will be the 100-by-80-foot ice rink that will not only be open during the festival week, but will remain open for skating through February and March—depending on Mother Nature. It will be open to the public for afternoon and evening skating sessions.

In the center of the ice rink, local artist Tom Holmes will embed an image in the ice specific to the festival, while the area around the rink will be lined with a series of white China-silk lanterns, which will be internally lit, to create a Winter Lights wonderland.

Holmes, who currently resides in Greeley, PA, will also craft a major back-lit ice sculpture serving as the backdrop for the ice rink, as well as other ice sculptures that will line both sides of Broad Street in downtown Milford.