On Friday, November 27, the tree in Courthouse Square gets lit, and more than 70 life-size snowmen go up around Stroudsburg Borough. The tree comes down after the holidays. The snowmen stay until February 28, 2027.
That's 94 days on downtown sidewalks, and 59 of them come after New Year's Day. So about two-thirds of the ninth annual Snowmen of Stroudsburg happens in January and February, when most holiday decorations elsewhere have been packed away. If you live here, the snowmen give you a reason to walk Main Street in the weeks when nothing else on the calendar does.
The opening night is a Friday, the day after Thanksgiving
The Downtown Stroudsburg Christmas Tree Lighting runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on November 27 in Courthouse Square. It's free and hosted by the Downtown Stroudsburg Business Association. Brad Roccanova and His Big Band are on the bill. Santa and the Grinch are expected at 6 p.m., and the countdown to the lighting is at 6:30.
The snowmen's run starts the same day. Two organizations host it together: GO Collaborative of Stroudsburg and the same business association that runs the tree lighting. That shared start is what links the two. The lighting draws the crowd, and the snowmen keep people coming downtown long after it.
Every snowman starts as an artist's sketch
The snowmen aren't decorations bought off a shelf. Each one is a commissioned piece of art, and GO Collaborative's request for proposals lays out exactly how they get made:
- Artists send in front, side and back sketches. A jury reviews them and picks the winning designs.
- Artists have to be within 10 miles of Downtown Stroudsburg, and they pick up the sculpture themselves in a truck or large SUV.
- Each sculpture comes fully assembled except for the arms. It's three stacked spheres, 30 inches wide and 5 feet 6 inches tall, and it stands about 7 feet 2 inches on its iron legs.
- Once a design is approved, the artist has six weeks at most to finish.
- Every add-on has to be weather-treated, and all of them together can't weigh more than 15 pounds. Oil-based paint, enamel and most spray paint are banned because they eat away at the base material.
One rule explains why the display looks the way it does. No business names, logos or mascots can appear on a snowman, and no club or organization can be depicted. Political and religious themes are off-limits too. Businesses can support the project through GO's sponsorship tiers, which run from $50 to $5,000, but they can't put their brand on the art. The names on the snowmen themselves belong to the artists, each credited on an identification plaque at the sculpture's spot.
Those artists include students. One design on the 2024-25 ballot was "Vincent Van Snow," credited to S.H.S. AP Art & Art 4.
It began as a way to give downtown a reason to visit
The idea was to bring more business downtown by pairing local artists with public sculptures. The Pocono Record reported in 2018 on Jim Evanisko and Jody Singer, business owners involved with GO Collaborative, and said Evanisko was responding to a merchant who said downtown didn't have an attraction. That first plan called for 30 locations along the Main Street corridor. GO dates the project to 2018, which makes 2026-27 the ninth season.
Over the years the display has spread beyond Main Street. In 2019, the Pocono Record placed snowmen on downtown Main Street, on parts of 5th Street and at Chipperfield in Stroud Township. In 2022, the Times News reported that ten downtown businesses would have snowmen maps on display and that the sculptures would change locations over the winter. Because the snowmen have moved before, the walk you take in December may not match the one you take in February.
The same Times News piece reported that 12 of the original snowmen sold at public auction earlier in 2022, with the proceeds going to the artists. Some of those first sculptures now belong to people who bought them.
The calendar keeps going after the tree
The snowmen give the downtown calendar something to hang on, and the dates are already set well into February:
| Date | What's happening | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Fri, Nov 27 | Tree lighting and the snowmen go up | 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Courthouse Square, free |
| Sat, Dec 5 | First Saturday Art Walk | 6 to 8 p.m. |
| Saturdays, Nov to Apr | Monroe Farmers Market | 9 a.m. to noon, Courthouse Square |
| Sat, Feb 13 | Winterfest | 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., free |
| Sun, Feb 28 | Last day of the snowmen | Display closes |
The farmers market switches to winter hours in November and stays on them through April. The Saturday morning market in Courthouse Square runs through the whole snowmen season, every week.
Winterfest on February 13 is the biggest day of the second half. It's listed with more than 40 hand-carved ice sculptures around downtown, plus a large display and a live carving demonstration in Courthouse Square. There will also be warming stations, children's activities and the Eastern Monroe Public Library Bookmobile. Fifteen days later, the snowmen leave. On February 13, downtown will have both the ice sculptures and the snowmen out at once, which only happens once a winter.
Winterfest also brings in businesses. For the 2024 event, the Pocono Record listed specials at Tolino Vineyards, Finola's Irish Pub, Pocono Soap and the Potting Shed, and reported that local businesses paid for the ice sculptures. This year's listing says local businesses will offer specials and promotions again.
Parking in the opening weeks
The first weeks of the season overlap with the end of the Ann Street Parking Garage rehabilitation. At the borough council's October 20, 2026 meeting, Matt VanWert of contractor D&M Construction explained that crews had found concrete only one inch thick in sections of the upper deck near the Hood Alley entrance. The spec calls for four inches. The repair means heavy equipment working on the lower deck. Because of that, VanWert recommended keeping the whole garage closed until mid-to-late November, once the new steel is in and the equipment is gone. He expected the work to finish by December 5. Council approved a change order that adds $149,044.13 and extends the deadline to no later than December 15, 2026. New concrete also needs a 28-day cure in good weather.
For the tree lighting and the first Art Walk, check the borough homepage for the garage's status before you leave the house. The borough's parking page lists downtown core meters at $1 an hour with a three-hour limit, most other meters at 50 cents an hour and paid lots at $1 an hour. The same October 20 meeting approved $180,000 in grant funding for new parking meters, and they've been ordered.
By the time Winterfest arrives in February, the garage work should be done. It's one more reason the second half of the snowmen season may be the easier time to come downtown.
The vote comes at the end
GO Collaborative's guidelines call for a balloted Best Snowmen contest at the end of the season, with three cash awards for the artists. The voting platform shows each sculpture with its artist's name. In past seasons, the Times News covered the final days of voting in late February. Since the vote comes at the end, February is the best time to see every snowman and decide on a favorite.
I love downtown Stroudsburg in the quiet weeks of January and February, when the snowmen are still out and Courthouse Square is busy on Saturday mornings. If you'd like help finding a home within walking distance of Main Street, or just want to talk about which parts of the borough feel this close to downtown, reach out to Kacey Conaty. Contact Kacey to Start Your Pocono Search.
