Entertainment

July 3, 2009

They’ll be trotting out a longhorn

By Mary Therese Biebel mbiebel@timesleader.com
Features Writer
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They’ll be trotting out a longhorn in Tunkhannock tonight, before the fireworks display at the high school.

How’s that for Americana? Doesn’t that bring to mind all those true-grit cowboys hustling the herds on long cattle drives past the amber waves of grain?

OK, it’s not a real longhorn. An actor will portray Larry the Longhorn in a short play written by Tunkhannock-area choreographer Kim Whipple.

“It’s geared toward kids, with a lot of peppy dance numbers,” Whipple said. “We have pig noses and donkey ears and longhorn horns” to transform the cast, ages 10 to 44, into a barnyard ensemble.

If you’re intrigued, please know that’s just one little sliver from the smorgasbord of family-friendly entertainment set to accompany fireworks this weekend. Independence Day falls on Saturday, but you can find plenty of celebrations starting today.

At Harman-Geist Stadium in Hazleton, for example, today is “Hold Your Flag High Day,” and organizers have arranged to hand out flags to children.

There will be a moonwalk for youngsters, race cars on display and soft-rock music before rockets begin to glare tonight at Wright Township Park in Mountain Top, where 5,000 people are expected.

Also tonight, you can hear the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic play patriotic medleys at 7:30 at PNC Field in Moosic before a fireworks display. The concert will be repeated tomorrow evening at 7:30 in Wilkes-Barre’s Kirby Park, and it includes an audience sing-a-long.

Earlier this week, city and county officials were still trying to work out whether the new amphitheater would be open for seating. That would be an exception to the River Common’s rule about being closed at dusk, Luzerne County Engineer Jim Brozena said Tuesday.

Spreading out a blanket or lawn chairs in the park itself is a good bet for a good view, said Wilkes-Barre spokeswoman Lore Majikes, who estimates 25,000 attended last year’s Kirby Park fireworks, even though the day was mostly rainy.

Saturday fireworks also will light the skies at dusk at Greater Nanticoke Area High School in Nanticoke and at Lake Wallenpaupack in the Poconos.

On Sunday you can find fireworks at the Pittston Riverfront Park and at Back Mountain Harvest Assembly in Trucksville, where associate pastor John Gibbons promises, “They are really good. A Fellow named ‘Pizza Paul’ from Pizza Perfect is the one who orchestrates it. You can view it from literally miles around.”

Like so many other pyrotechnic displays, the church fireworks start “at dusk” rather than at a specific hour or half hour.

“If you schedule a time, you end up with people tapping their watch,” Gibbons said. “Sometimes it takes the sun awhile to go down.”

If you go

TONIGHT

• PNC Field, Moosic, 9 p.m., preceded by Philharmonic Concert at 7:30 p.m.

• Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, Plains Township, 10 p.m.

• Wright Township Park, Route 309, Mountaintop, at dusk, parking available at St. Paul’s Church, Crestwood High School and Crestwood Industrial Park

• Split Rock Resort, Lake Harmony, 10 p.m.

• Abington Heights Middle School, Clarks Summit, dusk

• Harman Geist Stadium, Hazleton, dusk

• Tunkhannock Area High School, gates open at 5 p.m., fireworks at dusk

SATURDAY

• Kirby Park, Wilkes-Barre, 9 p.m., preceded by Philharmonic Concert at 7:30 p.m.

• Nanticoke High School, Nanticoke, dusk

• Mount Airy Casino & Resort, Mount Pocono, 9 p.m.

• Lake Wallenpaupack, 9 p.m., park at Wallenpaupack High School

SUNDAY

• Back Mountain Harvest Assembly, Trucksville, at dusk

• Pittston Riverfront Park, near Water Street Bridge, at dusk

MONDAY

• PNC field, Moosic, after baseball game

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