MOOSIC, Pa. — In less than a month, a festival will return for yogis at Montage Mountain in Moosic.
"This is our 9th annual Yoga Festival. It's the 11th time we did it at Montage Mountain, and we're super excited because this year will be bigger and better than all the previous ones," said Chelsea Manganaro, owner of Nearme Yoga.
Chelsea Manganaro is the organizer of NEPA's Yoga Festival and the owner of Nearme Yoga in Moosic and Peckville. She tells Newswatch 16 the event isn't just for the hardcore yogis. There's something for everyone.
"So you can just come to that portion for the holistic expo, listen to the lectures and the presenters, shop the vendors, take a walk around; it's usually always perfect weather, so we'll cross our fingers for this year as well," added Manganaro.
The festival is pretty unique for the area.
"There's not a lot of this going on out there as far as larger yoga festivals like this; usually, you have to travel pretty far," said Scott Jacoby, an instructor at Nearme Yoga.
Scott Jacoby is an instructor at Nearme Yoga. He'll be teaching a class or two at the festival.
"Chelsea and I do a partner, acro style yoga class, where we work with each other to get deeper stretches, but also have a little bit of fun, maybe some inversions, some flying poses, which not a lot of people get to try but it's usually a pretty good time," added Jacoby.
In the evening, there will be a special treat.
"We also have a community dinner, which is going to be a really nice way to end the evening after doing yoga all day and doing meditations, just to be able to have a dinner together, dance, have some live music, we have proud monkey playing in the evening, we also have the boastful's and midland as well," said Manganaro.
You can come to the festival for one day, or for the whole weekend. There will be camping and other amenities.
"For those who just want to show up with their yoga mat, we do all the work for them. It includes a hotel room, a full weekend, dinner, lunch both days, and a t-shirt and some other goodies," added Manganaro.
This yoga festival not only features teachers from all over. Attendees travel far and wide to be here. Some even come solo.
"We've met so many people who have come from all over the country by themselves or maybe planned to come with somebody, and that person couldn't go, and they still came and had a better experience even because of that. It gives them the opportunity to meet new people, make some friends, try classes that they may not have been able to try before, and ultimately get to do something that's kind of rare, especially for this area," said Jacoby.
The NEPA Yoga Festival is from June 8th through the 9th.
To purchase tickets, click here.