Expand<\/a><\/p>\nThe rainy weather actually played into the cidery\u2019s favor, Borthwick added.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as it rains, because we have these beautiful open doors, people run right in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Borthwick hopes added exposure from World Cup fans will translate into more regular customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEighty percent of the people who\u2019ve walked in have never walked in here before,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a good product, we have a great space, and we\u2019re glad people are checking us out.\u201d<\/p>\n
As many brick-and-mortar businesses were closed Sunday afternoon, a steady flow of customers stopped by the McAdoo-based Wicked Foods food truck, operated by Jaynee Wargo.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a new event for the area and it\u2019s exciting,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had some rain, but we\u2019re trying our best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wargo \u2014 who also brings her food truck to the Scranton St. Patrick\u2019s Parade \u2014 saw a good influx of customers following the Hanson concert Saturday.<\/p>\n
John \u201cJ.P.\u201d Heim III, owner of Bartari, 101 Adams Ave., stressed any event that drives traffic to local shops makes a difference, however he felt the World Cup fell a little short of expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything that brings people downtown is always a benefit,\u201d Heim said. \u201cThe county and (everyone) definitely built it up larger than it actually turned out to be, which was a little disappointing. Unfortunately, I guess it\u2019s just not a soccer town. Four years ago, I was all about doing something for the World Cup and things just didn\u2019t work out the way we thought they were going to work out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Downpours disrupted Heim\u2019s plans for the first weekend of the Fan Zone, but he salvaged business by bringing the action indoors.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor July 4, we were supposed to do two screens out on Center Street,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had big plans for viewing parties outside but, because of the weather, we moved the screen inside. When it did rain, everybody was looking for places for cover. We got filled up and people did enjoy the 14-foot screen inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nostalgia surrounding Hanson\u2019s musical performance overshadowed the third-place match between France and England on Saturday, Heim said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe actually drew more people for Hanson than for the soccer game, which is kind of funny,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Then, as both the Fan Zone and World Cup were wrapping up, a water main break kept Bartari closed on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little disappointing because we (couldn\u2019t) open because of stuff out of our control,\u201d Heim said.<\/p>\n
Scranton Business Administrator Eileen Cipriani categorized the Fan Zone as a success for the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were thrilled with the outcome of the event,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had weather challenges and obviously the challenge with the water main break, but we had so many people downtown and so many people enjoyed it. The crowd (Sunday) was phenomenal. We had so many activities for the children. It was great to see the soccer clubs and high school soccer teams participating.\u201d<\/p>\n
While eateries faced obstacles, specifically on the final day, Cipriani believes the World Cup fever boosted downtown shops.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom everything we\u2019ve heard, it was really great for the businesses,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were challenges, but we certainly made the best of it and all the people that came out were great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Event organizers estimated that about 12,000 people \u2014 representing diverse demographics \u2014 attended the Fan Zone between Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cA group would come in for the band, and often a number of them would leave and different people would come in for the soccer game,\u201d Cipriani said. \u201cWe had almost two different crowds at times. The first weekend was challenging, because July 4th weekend people have plans and vacations already set up, plus the weather didn\u2019t cooperate most of that weekend. I think this past weekend was more representative of what we thought we would see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 As organizers estimate approximately 16,000 people visited the FIFA World Cup Fan Zone along Courthouse Square…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[60,201,182,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-247880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-business","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247880","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=247880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FANZONEBIZ-6-0721.jpeg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FANZONEBIZ-5-0721.jpeg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Zack](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FANZONEBIZ-4-0721.jpeg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jaynee](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FANZONEBIZ-3-0721.jpeg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n