First Night Salem will be featuring six ice carvers

By D.a. Wilkinson

SALEM — First Night Salem is making its final preparations as Thursday approaches.

“We’re as ready as ready is,” David Schwartz, one of the event’s coordinators, said Tuesday.

Admission for an adult is $10 for a badge for the family-oriented, alcohol-free New Year’s Eve event.

The badges, which get the wearer admitted to a variety of events, are available for purchase at all Salem banks, Salem Giant Eagle, Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, the Salem Historical Society, Salem Community Center and Kolby’s.

Schwartz said he wasn’t sure how the badges were selling this year because, for some reason, “No one buys a badge until after Christmas.”

Schwartz said the committee that creates the family-orientedSFlbprogram for the New Year’s Eve event is also keeping an eye on the skies.

Last year’s event was accompanied by arctic temperatures but still managed a good turnout. The forecast this year calls for evening temperatures of 28 degrees and a 60 percent chance of snow showers.

Requests for ice carvers last year brought out one sculptor. Schwartz said that this year, six carvers will take part in that event, which will be in front of St. Paul Church. The finished works will be lighted.

Wrestlers from the Salem High School will help unload the blocks of ice so the sculptors can begin work.

Mitch Lynch, who, along with his wife, Patricia Tinkler, runs Friends Roastery in Salem, will be making birds from ice, Schwartz said.

Other events will be centered around the Kent City Centre.

One barbershop quartet scheduled to appear dropped out when one member became ill. Instead, Chip Richter and other performers will expand their time for kids at the center, according to Webmaster Bill Schilling, who is also a musician who will perform along with Linda Sigismondi.

The event will wrap up at the center with free cake and hot chocolate at midnight.

wilkinson@vindy.com