Airdrie residents who love being a part of, and taking in the Canada Day celebrations in the city will now be doubly disappointed.  

First it was announced earlier this week by the Airdrie Parades Committee that the Canada Day Parade for 2020 was being cancelled.  Now the City of Airdrie has postponed the Canada Day fireworks as well.  The decisions were made to shelve both for the very same reason, restrictions over large gatherings put in place by the province because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We continue to follow the direction set by Alberta Health to ensure we are making the best decisions for the safety of our community," says Clay Aragon, the Manager of Community Services with the City of Airdrie.  "Although we aren't surprised by this decision to postpone the fireworks, we are saddened that special events are being impacted as they bring together our community in an incredible way."

Aragon explains that the fireworks have only been "postponed" at this time and not "cancelled."  He says there is hope that they can be held at a later date.  "There's an echo of some hope that we will be able to do something later when it's safe to do so and provide some opportunities to celebrate, but, at this time, the safety of our community is something that we're really taking seriously and ensuring that's the number one priority."

Aragon says the city didn't want to let the fireworks celebration fall by the wayside without a fight.  He says they explored all scenarios that involved still having them but in the end, even the experts couldn't find a way to do it safely.  "We vetted this through subject matter experts in our work in regards to mass gatherings. Really the expert opinion on it is that it would be really difficult to manage that.  Normally I think Canada Day fireworks gathers roughly around 6,000 people."

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