The last effort at a community Fourth of July celebration in Bellaire — for “some semblance of normalcy” — has been abandoned.
The city of Bellaire announced Thursday (June 25) that it was canceling the Fourth of July Parade in the face of the worsening COVID-19 pandemic in the Houston area and Texas. After first canceling the traditional Fourth of July Festival in Bellaire Town Square, city organizers had been trying to create a parade format and route that was safe, while emphasizing physical distancing and other measures.
But with understandably diminished interest in entries, coupled with the surge in cases in recent days, the decision was made to call off the parade, too.
Here is the statement from the city:
City of Bellaire’s July 4th Parade Canceled
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of us in different ways. We recognize that a balance of safety precautions to prevent the spread of the virus coupled with some semblance of normalcy is going to help us all make it through this time. A major aspect of fighting the spread of the virus is to limit social contact. As a result, our City-sponsored public events have been significantly scaled back or canceled over the past few months. To that effect, the City’s 4th of July festival on the great lawn was canceled. Still, we intended to continue with the parade effort while enforcing social distancing and other measures to keep the participants safe.
Unfortunately, several factors have led us to make the decision to cancel the City of Bellaire July 4th Parade as well. Our participation rates for parade entrants are understandably down from years past, and the virus is continuing to spread in our area at an alarming rate. With those things in mind, we have chosen to cancel the parade this year and continue to look to the coming months for the right opportunities to revive our efforts for civic events when the time is right for everyone involved. We encourage you to continue to practice social distancing, wear a face-covering in public, and stay home when possible. We also encourage you to keep the Bellaire community spirit alive as best we can during this time… albeit from a safe distance.
Brant Gary
Assistant City Manager
For more information or questions, please contact Community Relations Administrator Cheryl Bright cbright@bellairetx.gov
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