Saline Winter Parade, Tree Lighting Canceled After Latest COVID-19 Health Order

The Saline Area Chamber of Commerce has canceled two holiday events as a result of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services latest health order to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The 45th annual Winter Parade, set for Dec. 5, and the Downtown Tree Lighting, planned for Dec. 1, have been canceled.

Chamber director Jackie Hardy and Board of Directors President-Elect Luke Schmerberg made the announcement on the chamber's website. 

"With heavy hearts, we at the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce announce that the Winter Parade will not be taking place this year," the statement read. "The Emergency Order issued on Sunday, November 15, 2020, by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, among other things, caps the maximum size of outdoor gatherings at twenty-five persons. The stationary parade that had been planned was the best option to keep interaction between unrelated parade watchers to a minimum. The number of parade participants and volunteers, however, is more than twenty-five. Even if the parade consisted of floats only, with no music and no live participants, the event still requires more than twenty-five volunteers to gather together."

Schmerberg and Hardy said the event will return in 2021. The Busch's grocery raffle continues.

The chamber has also canceled the tree-lighting event. The City of Saline still plans to put up the tree in front of Key Bank.

The chamber also announced it has resources to support businesses trying to weather the latest restrictions and invited members to contact the chamber office to discuss them.

"If the Saline community shows the same community spirit that was so apparent in the enthusiasm for the stationary parade, we can come through these restrictions together," the statement read.

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