TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Town of Tonawanda Memorial Day Parade has been canceled for the second straight year.
Town Supervisor Joseph Emminger said the difficult decision was made due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in the area and new variants of the virus found in the region.
The parade was scheduled to take place May 31.
The seven-day positivity rate in the Western Region stands at 4.7 percent – the highest in the state. On Thursday, the Erie County Department of Health confirmed two cases of the highly transmissible “South Africa” variant of the virus have been detected in the county. The “California,” “New York,” and “United Kingdom” variants have also been detected locally.
“Like the rest of you, we look forward to next year, when once again, we will renew this 70-plus year tradition which unofficially has kicked off the summer activities in the Town,” Emminger said in a news release.
As of Friday, nearly 38 percent of the total population of Erie County has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
