Forks Community Days Dubbed Success

The weather held up, the crowds materialized and the fireworks delivered the oohs and aahs.

Another Forks Township Community Days festival is over. And organizers and township officials are calling it a success.

"It was perfect," said Alison Miers, vice president of Easton Initiatives for the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce. "We were thrilled. We're very pleased with the outcome."

An overcast Saturday got the two-day weekend festival off to a slow start, but by Saturday evening, the crowds had picked up and the joint was jumping in anticipation of the impressive fireworks display.

Miers and Brian Lokitis, chairman of the Forks Township Community Days Committee, both said they received plenty of positive feedback -- and some constructive criticism -- regarding the festival, with many saying they liked the festival's new layout and enjoyed the all-day music and entertainment.

"People were generally happy with the event," said Lokitis, who was running the festival for the second-straight year.

Lokitis said he was concerned initially since Saturday started off cold and rainy and because there was competition from an arts festival in downtown Easton.

But with the addition of more music throughout both days, a new and a little more space for vendors to show their wares, everyone came away feeling good about the festival, he said.

Lokitis said the beer tent revenue will bring in about $2,000 once all the bills are paid, with the funds going back into the Forks business community.

"We didn't do as much as we liked," he said. "We were hoping for $4,000. That was a little bit optimistic."

He said the entire event cost about $13,500 to host and the committee will probably break even this year, since costs were higher due to paying more bands to perform.

Lokitis said he thought that about 3,000 people attended the event each day.

Township Manager Richard Schnaedter said he heard positive reviews.

"The vendors all made a healthy profit, the beer tent went well and our police association was real pleased," he said. "There were no issues so I'd call it a success."

Miers agreed.

 "Some people said the fireworks was one of the best local shows they've seen," she said. "The businesses said they got a lot of leads. And everyone liked the food and the layout."

Still, Lokitis already has some ideas for improvements next year.

He said he's thinking about extending the festival hours on both days to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and 8 p.m. on Sunday. This year the festival ended at 9 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday.

Lokitis also wants to better promote the balloon launch to attract more people and maybe tweak some of the logistics to enhance crowd flow.