The Electric City knows how to throw a Fourth of July party, even in the midst of record heat and thunderstorms.<\/p>\n
World Cup supporters turned Scranton\u2019s Courthouse Square into a colorful celebration of national pride on Saturday, many attending as part of their family\u2019s Independence Day celebration.<\/p>\n
And for Taylor Swift fans, the day opened with a live band tribute to the pop star, who tied the knot with NFL star Travis Kelce on Friday at New York\u2019s Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n
At about 5 p.m., with severe storms predicted for the area, police decided to shut the event down for safety reasons.<\/p>\n
The soccer-themed celebration will continue on Sunday beginning at 2 p.m., with more moderate temperatures, even though intermittent storms are predicted later in the day.<\/p>\n
Scranton honored as World Cup Soccer Tournament Fan Zone<\/p>\n
In May, Scranton learned it was named a FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament Fan Zone at Lackawanna County Courthouse Square downtown for four days in July, including July 4.<\/p>\n
When Chris Kolcharno, Lackawanna County\u2019s deputy chief detective, heard about the event, his mind first went to keeping people safe and implementing appropriate security measures, which were reflected in screenings of those entering the event and the presence of many law enforcement officers from different agencies.<\/p>\n
But Kolcharno, who coached soccer and has a son who plays for Misericordia University, was also excited about the event that brought soccer to downtown Scranton on a holiday weekend.<\/p>\n
Although most people wouldn\u2019t make it to a series match, the event provided a chance for them to share the excitement of the sport at a free event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see the community engaging with the sport,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see them coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swiftie Kristen Gallagher arrived at the event early, settling in to a shady spot to listen to Taylor Swift music. Gallagher saw Swift twice during her Eras Tour and enjoyed listening to music from the tour, which opened the day.<\/p>\n
Sitting next to Gallagher was Jarrod Cipriano, her boyfriend and a huge soccer fan. The two met at Misericordia years ago, and Gallagher moved to the area to be near Cipriano.<\/p>\n
They have many things in common, but that doesn\u2019t include either a love for Taylor Swift or soccer. So the event, complete with a variety of food and activities, provided them with the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n
Both cheered when tribute band Cruel Summer\u2019s lead singer yelled, \u201cWe\u2019re celebrating Swifties!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCouldn\u2019t have asked for a better day,\u201d Cipriano said.<\/p>\n
Soccer fans attending the event said they were looking forward to seeing Canada compete against Morocco at 1 p.m. and Paraguay versus France at 5 p.m. on five large screens set up throughout the event, including the main supersized screen on North Washington Avenue.<\/p>\n
Fans believed the Canada vs. Morocco match was to be the more competitive of the two, with France expected to trounce Paraguay in the second match.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut anything can happen,\u201d said one fan.<\/p>\n
Morocco ended up beating Canada 3-0, and France edged Paraguay 1-0.<\/p>\n
Vernon Poole was attending the event with his son Elan, who, at 2 years old, is already learning soccer skills.<\/p>\n
The two attended with friends, and were enjoying every aspect of the day, including not only soccer but music and numerous family-friendly activities.<\/p>\n
A crowd gathered on the courthouse lawn in front of the main screen for the day\u2019s first match at 1 p.m. As of 1:30 p.m., no one had scored, but many were rooting for their favorite team.<\/p>\n
Chelsea McFarland of Pittston, an avid soccer fan, believed Canada was going to win.<\/p>\n
Jerry Perrins, of Duryea, was looking forward to the day\u2019s second game, during which he would root for France.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m half-French, so it\u2019ll be exciting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The United States team did not compete on Saturday, but will face Belgium on Monday at Seattle Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u2018An organic celebration\u2019<\/p>\n
For Kevin Vrabel, who was watching Saturday\u2019s matches from home, the competition had special meaning.<\/p>\n
Vrabel, a longtime Wilkes-Barre resident, returned Friday from a trip to Toronto, where he watched Portugal beat Croatia in Canada\u2019s final match of the World Cup series.<\/p>\n
For Vrabel, the trip was much more than simply a chance to watch a spirited competition in an exciting atmosphere in a setting that drew attendees from all over the world. Instead, it was a celebration of his 30 years of sobriety and a rekindling of his lifelong love for soccer.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t the first time Vrabel attended a World Cup event; he was there in 1994 when the United States sponsored the games. During that competition, Brazil won the title, defeating Italy 3-2.<\/p>\n
But this time around, Vrabel made even deeper memories, he said.<\/p>\n
The atmosphere at the matches was one of inclusivity, but instead of forced inclusivity, it seemed natural. Young and old attended from a multitude of countries and were welcomed by others.<\/p>\n
Vrabel was grateful to be able to attend a match in person, but admitted that ticket prices were probably out of the reach of many, especially families.<\/p>\n
Fan zones provided a chance for many people, especially youngsters, to learn about the game and share in World Cup excitement in a community setting, he said.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pa.). Visit thetimes-tribune.com<\/a>. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/a><\/p>\n \n Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.\n <\/p>\n \n Error! There was an error processing your request.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Electric City knows how to throw a Fourth of July party, even in the midst of record…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179,11868,726],"class_list":["post-236444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}