2011 Nazareth Adult Soapbox Derby Registration OPEN!

Click Here for Registration Page

Nazareth Historical Treasures

The Express Times has a new feature called Historical Treasures that spotlights local artifacts found in local museums. It appears every Sunday in the Connect section of the The Express-Times. There are several cool Nazareth landmarks that have been highlighted thus far, the most recent being the Indian Tower. Here are links to the Nazareth pieces:

• Indian Tower
• Stone cenotaph at MHS Historical Area
• Tannenberg Organ

2010 Pumpkin Carving Contest Bust

The 2010 WeirdNazareth Pumpkin Carving Contest was a bummer. We only got two or three legitimate entries. I say "legitimate" entries because in my two years of running an online pumpkin contest I have noticed that there are internet pumpkin trolls. Internet pumpkin trolls are people, who are usually quite talented at carving, that troll the internet for various and random contests to enter their pumpkins in.

That said, we did get two entries from actual WeirdNazareth readers, Nicole Burns' Scooby Doo pumpkin and Jeff Gum's flying dog-thing pumpkin are shown below. Thanks to both of you for your pumpkin entries! Nice job.

2010 Nazareth Halloween Parade

2010 Results:

BEST APPERARING INDIVIDUAL:

1ST, “LITTLE BOO PEEP” JoAnne Vanatta From Nazareth

2nd, “PRINCESS BELLE” Sarah Banko From Bushkill Township

3rd, “WITCH and BLACK CAT” Nicole and Brianna Snyder From Nazareth

MOST COMMICAL:

1ST, HOMESTEAD KENNELS From Nazareth

2nd, “HAWIAN LUAU” Center for Animals Health and Welfare From Easton

BEST APPEARING SMALL GROUP:

1ST, “PIRATE SHIP” MacINTRYE FAMILY From Easton

2ND, NAZARETH HIGH SCHOOL DANCE TEAM

3RD, KIDS CO-OP From Bethlehem

4th, “SUPER HEROS” Freiss family From Lower Nazareth

BEST APPEARING LARGE GROUP:

1ST, NAZARETH YMCA DANCE TEAM

2ND, LEHIGH VALLEY A.A.R.C. CAR CLUB

3RD, JEANIE CARDINALS SCHOOL of DANCE From Nazareth

BOY SCOUTS:

1ST, BOY SCOUT TROOP 74 From Nazareth

2ND, CUB PACK 78 From Nazareth

3RD, CUB PACK 88 From Nazareth

GIRL SCOUTS:

1ST, NAZARETH AREA GIRL SCOUTS

BEST APPEARING FLOATS:

1ST, PARKETTES from ALLENTOWN

2ND, JENNINGS TRANSPORTATION from NAZARETH

3RD, NAZARETH MIDDLE SCHOOL BEST BUDDIES

4TH, LABAR TOWING from NAZARETH

CHEERLEADERS:

1ST, UPPER NAZARETH CLIPPERS

2ND, LOWER NAZARETH WILDCATS

SPECIAL JUDGES AWARD:

“DYNAMIC DUO” Brian and Conner Rehn from Nazareth

2010 Pumpkin Carving Contest

How would you like to win a super terrific WeirdNazareth.com T-shirt? I know, I know. Stop jumping up and down and listen for a minute. We are having another pumpkin carving contest and it is really easy to enter. You’re probably already carving a pumpkin for Halloween, right? Well all you have to do is take a photograph of it and send it to us and if it’s good enough you might win a T-shirt. Why are you jumping around again? The WeirdNazareth.com T-shirt is made of real fabric and has a spiffy silk-screened logo on the front. Each WeirdNazareth.com T-shirt is hand printed by our founder in his basement.

Information and Rules:

How to Enter:
To enter, take a photo of your pumpkin and e-mail it to us at weirdnazareth@hotmail.com. You can send us the photo itself as an attachment or a link to the photo on a photo-hosting site (Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, etc.) We would prefer a link, but whatever works for you works for us. When you e-mail us, please tell us your name (at least your first and last intial; privacy will be respected) and the town that you live in. If you want to tell us a little about your pumpkin we would love to hear it. If you're feeling saucy, you can cronical it for the Maker Diaries.

The Weird Nazareth staff and our families will sort through all the entries and determine 4 finalists. The 4 finalists will then be posted on weirdnazareth.com and our readers will vote for the best pumpkin. After the contest is over, we will fawn over the winner and post a slide show of all the losers' entries.

Deadline for entry is midnight, Oct. 31, 2010.

Rules:
1) Your photo must be of a real pumpkin or some sort of pumpkin-like vegetable.
2) You do not have to be a Nazareth resident to enter the contest. You can be from anywhere in the whole world. Even Easton.
3) You must be of legal pumpkin carving age to enter.
4) By submitting a photo for the contest you are allowing us to use the photo to post on our sites, on our Facebook page, etc.
5) If you become a finalist, we will post your name (first name only) and town. We won’t post your last name if you don’t want us to.
6) Your pumpkin does not have to be carved, per se. It can be painted or sculpted or whatever. Basically, although we’re calling it a pumpkin “carving” contest it’s really a “creative pumpkin” contest.
7) No cheating. At weirdnazareth.com we’re fairly computer savvy. If you try to use a photo you found from a Google images search we’ll probably be able to tell.
8) You can submit as many pumpkins as you want. So you can create some really interesting in-family squabbles if you wanted.
9) If needed, you can submit multiple photos of the same pumpkin (different angles, etc.)
10) The rules above are very loose. Feel free to bend them.

Prizes:

The ultimate, grand prize, first place winner will get a WeirdNazareth.com T-shirt that is printed on whatever color shirt you want (assuming that the color has already been invented and exists at Target). It can be whatever size you need. In other words, I won’t be printing the shirt until we find out who won.

What are you waiting for?

Kazoo Parade 2010

July 3rd marked the return of the Nazareth Kazoo Parade to celebrate Independence Day. As you may remember, last year's kazoo event was a concert rather than a parade. Well, all is right in the world again for those that like their kazoos with a little locomotion.

A highlight of this year's event was the grand marshal Kate Miccuci, a former Nazareth resident that has made a bit of a name for herself in the comedy biz. Kate lead the parade and tickled the crowd's silly bone with a song about Nazareth.

I've seen Kate on Youtube before. Apparently, Youtube removes a few pounds because I was expecting to see a petite little thing in person. In reality, Kate is quite an imposing figure. She's a hulking six and a half feet tall and, in my estimation, nearly 300 pounds. It was quite startling.

Anyhoo, here is a video of the parade coming down Main Street and a video of Kate's goofy song about Nazareth.

Matchstick Taj Mahal Finished!

As the Express Times reported last week, puzzle enthusiast & Nazareth local Raymond Neuner completed a replica of the Taj Mahal made of matchsticks. If this has you excited then I'm about to blow your mind...the replica is available for public viewing during Martins on Main (Aug. 8) at KNBT. So clear your calendar.

Fun Facts about the Taj Mahal:

• It was completed around 1653 and took about 22 years. Ray's replica took about 2400 hours over three winters.
• Over 1000 elephants were used to move materials to the construction area. No elephants were used during construction of Ray's replica.
• The total cost is estimated at 32 million rupees. According the the Internet, Ray's replica kit cost about 80 bucks.
• The Taj Mahal attracts 2.5-4 million tourists each year. Ray's replica has just recently been put on display so data is not yet available.
  

Remembering the Washington St. Ghost Owl

Way back in 2007 I posted a picture of the Ghost Owl of Washington Street after I sumbled upon it while out for a walk. It was the first thing I ever posted on this site and it is the reason this site exists. Sadly, the Owl has been destroyed. It's sad, tattered remains are still attached to the branches. What was once a proud symbol of Nazareth weirdness is now a broken shard of plastic. Goodbye, old friend.


I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams, pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind.
Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do, crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind

Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy.

Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind, everything is dust in the wind.

2010 Nazareth Adult Soapbox Derby

If you're anything like me, when you hear the phrase "adult soapbox derby" certain things come to mind. But in reality the annual Nazareth Adult Soapbox Derby is simply a soapbox derby where only those over the age of 18 can race. Doesn't have anything to do with ball gags or leather chaps. So if you're looking for that kind of thing move along.


Yesterday, the annual soapbox derby was held on the W. Prospect Street hill. There were almost 40 cars ranging from converted snow blowers to highly engineered racing machines to wooden jalopies. This year featured neo-celebrity Tyler Grady of Star Search fame and a police radar device that displayed the car's speed. It was a great day. The slideshow below is from a Flickr group dedicated to the event. So it features some of my own photos and other's as well. Also, there are links below to all of the applicable sites devoted to the Nazareth Adult Soap Boax Racing Association

Facebook Group: HERE
Building the WeirdNazareth.com Klown Kar: HERE
Official Website: HERE
Article in Express Times (Lehigh Valley Live): HERE
Photo Gallery from ET/LVL: HERE
2009 Derby: HERE
2008 Derby: HERE

Public drunkenness, underage drinking, and disorderly conduct

The Morning call has a charming police blotter article about a Nazareth man having a fun time with Nazareth Borough police yesterday. You can read it here. After being picked up for some suspicious activity he
broke a window with his head and smeared his blood on the holding cell’s glass, door, three walls, toilet and floor. Later, according to the article, he licked his blood off the broken window, saying, “I need blood. I want blood. I want your blood.” Good times.

arson, arson endangering property, causing catastrophe, risking catastrophe, recklessly endangering another person, disorderly conduct...

The Morning Call has a police blotter article about a Nazareth woman who tried to break her way back into her apartment after a domestic dispute. Maybe not a terribly unusual premise. However, the method of entry is. According to the article she used long stick matches to melt the window screen to attempt to gain entry causing fire damage to the apartment. Brilliant!

You read all about Nazareth's best and brightest under the topic "crime and punishment."

Obscura Day in Bucks County

If you're interested in something weird to do this March you can take a drive down to Bucks County to celebrate Obscura Day with a rock concert at Ringing Rocks park. What's Obscura Day, you ask? Why, Obscura Day is only the 17th best day of the year. March 20th is designated as an international celebration of wondrous, curious, and esoteric places or "Obscura Day."

One of the official Obscura Day events is a concert created by banging on the rocks at Ringing Rocks Park in Bucks County. And anyone can participate. As Obscura Day's website describes:
March 20, 2010 1PM: Bring hammers, mallets, bats, and other percussive instruments for this gathering at the mysterious Ringing Rocks Park in eastern Pennsylvania, where the stones have a most curious property: they ring out musical tones when struck. The exact mechanism by which these rocks ring remains a mystery, though it may have to with the freeze-thaw cycle that helped created the boulder field in the first place. The unusual property has been observed at only a few other locations in the US. Join us on Obscura Day to collectively rock out in this most curious of rock parks. Obscura Day Ringing Rocks Concert website: Click Here

Although WeirdNazareth.com won't be hosting an official Obscura Day event we are going to create a WeirdNazareth map that you can follow on Obscura Day or any day of the year. It will allow you to enjoy the impending Spring weather and some of the stuff we've posted here in-person. Dust off your GPS's and check back in a little bit for your official Spring 2010 WeirdNazareth.com map!