WEST PEORIA, Ill. — COVID-19 has brought to a halt a myriad of summer traditions, from local levels to national levels.
Major League Baseball on Friday announced the cancellation of its All-Star Game, in a season already derailed by the virus to the point it won’t even play half of its normal 162-game schedule.
Locally, Red, White, and Boom organizers in May postponed the event indefinitely, and as of Independence Day have not announced whether or not it’s going to happen at all.
Another local staple, the West Peoria 4th of July Parade, was “postponed” — the term the city used on its news release — until July 4, 2021.
“On May 15, the City Council had a meeting and that’s when we kind of decided it’s not a good idea to go forward with this,” said City Administrator Kinga Krider.
“It was really early when we canceled it, but to be honest with you, with all the preparation and everything else that goes into our parade, we wanted to make sure we weren’t wasting anybody’s time.”
Krider said even under phase four guidelines of Restore Illinois, it wouldn’t make sense to hold the parade.
“The largest gathering allowed is what, 50 people? We have over 10,000 people show up for this,” she said.
“We have people coming from out of state and traveling from other cities. It is the longest-running Central Illinois parade.
“It attracts a ton of people and there’s no such thing as social distancing that day.”
It was a painful decision to make, Krider said, and compounding that difficulty was the fact 2020 was to mark the 50th anniversary.
“We’ve never missed the parade in 50 years,” she said.
“That made us really sad.”
With the golden anniversary put on-hold until 2021, Kreider said to expect an even bigger spectacle than there would have been had there been no pandemic.
She was coy on the details as to what that will entail, however.
“We have thought about it a lot. I’m not going to spoil the surprise.
“I have designed a t-shirt for it. I might just start selling them now, and if people don’t like it, then I can change my whole image,” she quipped.
