It appears that the tradition of having a Christmas Holiday Parade will have to wait another year.
During the November 7th Mayor & Council meeting, the matter was brought up again in connection with discussions during previous municipal meetings. Mayor Joseph Accardi asked the governing body whether this was something they wanted to work on this year, seeing as there were only four weeks left before the Christmas Tree lighting, which would coincide with any proposed parade.
“Some of the comments I got in talking to people, the consensus was that it was too late to make those arrangements now. That this is something we would have to start months in advance in order to get everyone involved,” Second Ward Councilwoman Charlene Storey said, “I think that the logical answer is to concentrate on Memorial Day.”
With no other comments from the dais, Mayor Accardi stated, “I think that we can safely say that there will be no Christmas Parade or Holiday Parade but we will concentrate on Memorial Day Parade next year. That’s the one I had initially mentioned and I thought that it was a good idea given the participation of the Boys Scouts, Girls Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Brownies.”
The mayor was referring to the annual walk made by the troops of the Scouts before the Memorial Day ceremony ever since the Memorial Day Parade was stopped in 2009, the same year as the Christmas Holiday Parade.
Below is a video from the 2008 Christmas Holiday Parade.