The outdoor Winter Festival event takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and features food and craft vendors selling their wares, games, live music and raffles. Public service organizations will also be there to hand out literature and to tell more about their programs, too!

The Winter Festival is a fundraising activity for the Howard scouts who are involved with the Scouting America Pack and Troop 353. Both boys and girls are involved with the scouting program in Howard. Proceeds from the festival help to pay the expenses for the troop’s activities and trips. The festival is an outdoor event that provides fun for the whole family!

This year there are close to 40 food and craft vendors signed up to attend, and there are lots of activities that will make it a fun day at the park, including a bounce house obstacle course, a petting zoo, face painting and a lot of games or stands that the scouts will be helping with.

A group of folks dressed in superhero costumes will be wandering the park and are willing to pose for keepsake photos. To the delight of both young and old, these superhero characters will be making balloon animals and figurines.

PHOTO PROVIDED A photo of a previous Scouts’ Winter Festival in Howard’s Community Park is shown. Craft and food vendors will be on hand from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 14.

As in past years, the Mennonite choir will perform at 1 p.m., providing several song selections for the crowd. A DJ will also be there providing tunes throughout the day.

Another big draw to the festival is the annual Cake Auction.

Each scout in the pack or the troop bakes a cake with the help of his/her father (or another male role model in their life) for the cake auction. Bidding can be fierce, especially when determined parents or grandparents are set on sharing that special cake with their young scouts.

Currently there are 34 Cub Scouts in the Pack and 12 scouts in the troop, so there should be a large assortment of cakes to choose from.

This year Bob Patishnock, the Howard Area Lions Club President, has volunteered to be the cake auctioneer, and he’s already practicing his chants and antics to pull as many bids from the onlookers as he can muster. The cake auction will start around 2:30 p.m. Bidding is done all in good fun, and all to raise funds for the scouting program in Howard. If you don’t have enough cash on hand to pay for the cake, not to worry — checks are happily accepted as payment for your cakes.

TAMMY COAKLEY/THE EXPRESS This cake was baked for a Father-Scout Cake Bake and decorated to look like a Boy Scout for an earlier Winter Festival.

This is the third year for the Howard collector’s tin series offered during the annual Winter Festival. This year the tin features a wintertime photo of the Eagle Iron Works, located at Curtin Village. The tins are $25 and available by pre-orders by calling Patti at 814-625-2182. A limited supply of tins is available, so if you want to be sure to get one you should call in your order today! Tins will also be sold at the park gazebo on festival day while supplies last.

Get your tin and a list of Cookie Crawl vendors and then visit each of the booths on the list for a bag of goodies to fill your tin. Visiting all of the vendors on the Cookie Crawl list will ensure plenty of sweet treats for your enjoyment later on at home.

Also at the Gazebo, which is being dubbed during the festival as Scouting Headquarters, is an opportunity to buy your very own HOWARD brick. The bricks are being sold for $20 each.

A very generous donor has provided many top of the line fishing items that will be raffled off with only 150 tickets being sold. A money raffle and a basket raffle with many of the vendors contributing will also be offered, with the winners being drawn around 3:45 p.m. Winners will be notified by phone if you aren’t in the crowd when the drawing is conducted. Arrangements for picking up your prizes can be made later on.

Tom Long is the Cub Master and his wife, Patti, is the committee chairwoman for the pack, and each of the dens ranging from kindergarten through fifth grade has a respective assistant. Beginners in kindergarten would be in the Lion’s Den. Tigers, wolves and bears are for first, second and third graders. Webelos is for fourth graders and the Arrow of Light is for fifth graders.

Tom and Patti have been involved in scouting for more than 40 years now, ever since their son, Jonathan, joined scouting when he was just six years old.

Jon Long is the Scout Master for Troop 353 and his assistant is Lew Davidson. Bryce Mills is the troop’s chairman.

Jon is very pleased that one of his scouts will soon be starting a project to obtain his Eagle Scout designation. The Howard Pack and Troop is looking forward to hosting the Juniata Valley Council Camporee in April with close to 400 scouts expected to participate. The Camporee will be held at Curtin Village near Howard.

The scouting program not only teaches life skills like cooking and first aid, and also builds confidence, teamwork and social skills. Scouting emphasizes positive behavior along with moral and ethical values. Young scouts learn the importance of being honest, friendly, kind, brave and trustworthy that will serve them well into their adult years.

If your youngster is interested in scouting please see a leader during the festival to learn more about meeting dates and upcoming events that are being planned or call Tom or Patti Long at 814-625-2182.