The annual Festival of Lights Parade in downtown Columbus has been canceled after organizers determined the event poses too big of a risk of spreading COVID-19.
The event, which was scheduled for Dec. 5, typically draws an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 people to downtown Columbus to see floats decorated with lights as they wind their way down Washington Street and other nearby streets.
An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people are involved in the event in some capacity, including spectators, participants and others, said Joyce Lucke, president of JAKKS Inc., the nonprofit agency that organizes the parade.
The last time the parade was canceled was 2013, when there was 6 inches of snow on the ground in some parts of the local area. This year would have been the 30th year for the parade, Lucke said.
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“With the number of people who are in the parade, who come to the parade or in all its various ways are somehow involved with the parade, we just don’t want to end up being a superspreader event,” Lucke said. “…The pandemic is still here. It just makes sense just to cancel it and not even risk that.”
Lucke said the decision to cancel the event was made a little over three months in advance because the organizers felt a responsibility to sponsors who fund the event and to the groups that enter floats, which often begin to design, buy supplies and build their entries as early as Labor Day.
Additionally, organizers were concerned that members of groups or organizations that enter floats into the event “would have to be in close contact with each other,” potentially for hundreds of hours, which could put them at risk of contracting COVID-19.
Lucke said she realizes the decision to cancel the event will come as a “huge disappointment” to many entrants, sponsors, downtown businesses and others who enjoy attending or participating in the parade, but “we have to be responsible and take public health very seriously.”
“We realize we might be a little bit seen like the Grinch that Stole Christmas,” Lucke said. “We really hope we’re wrong, but I’m going to guess that come Dec. 5 we’re still going to be dealing with the pandemic in a very real way.”
