What are you doing Orthodox New Year's Eve?

By the time the clock strikes midnight on January 13th, the fireworks team will have spent the better part of five days atop the Burma Road setting up what's billed as the largest Orthodox New Year's Eve fireworks show in Schuylkill County. The eyes of the county once again focus on the dazzling fireworks, lights and bustling energy of St. Clair (known to agnostics and unbelievers as simply “Clair”). Anticipation runs high as Orthodox New Year’s Eve, in the center of Schuylkill County, where the north of the mountain meets the south of the mountain, is something to experience. It has become more than just a celebration - it's a county tradition. As the famous Orthodox New Year's Eve Onion Bulb descends from the flagpole atop of Walmart, thousands of revelers will be united to watch the departing of the last Orthodox year; expressing joy and hope for the Orthodox year ahead, and preparing for Orthodox Ground Hogs Day which occurs on February 16th on the Julian Calendar.

Whether you'd like to sit down for a four-course supper or dance the night away in an open-bar club, you've got plenty of options this Orthodox New Year's Eve in St. Clair. Here are some of my suggestions for a rollicking Russian time:

All information is subject to change:


♥♥♥♥ Whitey's Bar & Grille. $150 for a table of two, $275 for a table of four. Includes reserved table for the night, herring dinner, bottle of champagne, borscht. cash and prize balloon drop; midnight, Rasputin look-alike contest, champagne toast.

♥♥♥ St. Clair Fish and Game Club. 7 p.m., doors open. Buffet dinner with complimentary turnip beets, beer, wine, martinis, ice luge. Free valet parking. Rub elbows with the Washington crowd. Often compared to Studio 54. Extensive coverage of the Orthodox New Year baby contest.

♥♥♥ Kulich's Oval Bar. $20 in advance, $25 at the door for general admission. Table seating starts at $350. 11-person VIP “Putin on the Ritz” package, $1,300. 8-10 p.m., dinner buffet; midnight, champagne toast, party favors, balloon drop.

♥♥ Old Buckhorn. billiards, ballet, four-course vegetarian/vegan supper with a glass of non-alcoholic champagne, Khrushchev and Yelsin impersonators, Tolstoy readings. Ecclectic.

♥♥ Tommy’s M & S. steaming molotov chili is just the meal to have if you are participating in the Polar Bear Plunge at St. Clair Pool after midnight; also great view of ball drop from window.

♥ DaBar. Vodka and ten dishes of sausage with cheese in this snazzy bomb shelter but lousy view of ball drop of fireworks due to its underground location.

♥♥ Melnick's. best deep-fried chicken this side of Kiev. "Все жарится во фритюре здесь, даже десерты."

♥♥Trolley Car. Wet babushka contest starts at 11:00 PM. Plenty of parking.