The 39th Keystone State Games Festival of Sports will take place throughout Luzerne County from Thursday, July 29, through Sunday, Aug. 1. Since the Games' inception in 1981, they have attracted over 500,000 participants in various age groups. Registration opened on April 19.

The Keystone State Games, modeled after the Olympic Games, are annual multi-sport competitions providing Pennsylvania's amateur athletes opportunities to compete against athletes from throughout the commonwealth. Beyond that, the Keystone State Games promote all the positive aspects of amateur sports.

The focus is always on the safety of the athletes. In that tradition, the events will follow all guidelines from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and local facilities to provide a safe and responsible event for all participants and for Luzerne County as the host.

The Pennsylvania Senior Games will not be held in 2021. This event is a multi-sport festival for people age 50 and up, which is held in PA biennially in even years to qualify athletes to compete at the National Senior Games. The National Senior Games will next take place in May 2022 in the Fort Lauderdale area; for details, visit http://www.nsga.com.

Seniors who would have participated in the Pennsylvania Senior Games are invited to instead enter the Keystone State Games this summer, where many sports will have senior age divisions.

For more details or to register for the Keystone State Games, visit http://www.keystonegames.org.