NC town to hold Christmas parade with 300 people, despite urging over COVID-19 risks
Across North Carolina, dozens of cities have scrapped cherished Christmas parades, leaving their streets empty for a yuletide pandemic. They blame the Grinch of 2020.
But in Youngsville, a half-hour’s drive northeast of Raleigh, the town plans a mile-long parade with up to 300 people watching. Scheduled participants include a volleyball team, a plumbing company and a hair salon.
The Saturday parade will go on despite repeated urgings from the Franklin County Health Department, which warns that COVID-19 cases are reaching record heights locally. A parade, the county warns, would violate Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order limiting crowds.
Youngsville has resisted.
In a Wednesday email to county officials, Town Manager Phil Cordeiro said Youngsville’s parade falls under the same First Amendment exemption that allowed Raleigh protests earlier this year.
He also describes the parade as a permitted religious service because it starts in the parking lot of First Baptist Church and many of its participants attend church.
He thanked county officials for their concern but said the town is “confident we can safely hold our event.”
“It’s just been a really bad year and we’re trying to do something to lighten people’s spirits and give them a little hope,” Mayor Fonzie Flowers told The N&O Wednesday. “We don’t want it to be a situation where people don’t feel safe.”
On the town’s Facebook page, reaction has been joyful and defiant.
“Good on the Youngsville leaders for having the balls to allow us as Americans to choose how we celebrate,” wrote Chad Wilkins.
But others in the town of about 1,800 people fear the parade will become notorious as a super-spreader event, leading to further case spikes as COVID-19 worsens statewide.
“It will absolutely spread,” said Steve Durant, who said he lives two minutes from the parade route. “The town is thumbing its nose at the state and county.”
On top of the risk of infection, Durant said he fears defying the state and county will threaten future road funding that Youngsville needs as as traffic increases.
Alternative Parades
The governor’s latest executive order on Stage 3 restrictions, which extend until at least Dec. 11, spells out the maximum size of crowds and when exceptions are permitted.
It specifically mentions parades:
5.1. Prohibition. Mass Gatherings are prohibited. “Mass Gathering” means an event or convening which brings together more than ten (10) people indoors or more than fifty (50) people outdoors at the same time in a single confined indoor or outdoor space. This includes parades, fairs, or festivals.
Most cities and towns statewide opted against taking any risk.
Raleigh had a virtual Christmas parade in November, broadcasting a string of parade-style clips.
Ayden, outside Greenville in Pitt County, will hold a “reverse parade” with floats parked on the side of the road for cars to drive past.
Other Franklin County towns, including Louisburg, Franklinton and Bunn, have canceled, expressing disappointment.
In Youngsville, the town promises to be safe.
Cordeiro said signs will be placed along the parade route, and on the town’s Facebook page, masks and social distancing will be encouraged.
Thursday night, the town released a video with Flowers issuing safety guidelines for the parade, including staying 6 feet apart and wearing masks. He said that people should physically distance from groups, or a “family bubble” — people who live together in the same household.
He told residents if they are sick that they should stay home. Those who don’t wear masks also should keep their distance from other people.
He said having an event outside is safer than having crowds of people inside a large building, such as a big box store or grocery store.
The town plans to place 23 people “under the direction of the Youngsville Police Department” to monitor compliance.
Flowers, the mayor, said he will participate in the parade and can’t watch for masks and social distancing personally. The town’s volunteers will watch for safety but not insist upon it.
“We’re not going to arrest anyone,” he said. “You’ve got to help us out and you’ve got to be smart. The way to do this and the way to pull this off is to mask up.”
He noted many of the parade entrants have children.
“It’s already been proven children don’t get or pass the virus around,” he said.
According to state Department of Health and Human Services statistics, 10% of North Carolina coronavirus cases have struck those under 18 — nearly 40,000 people.
40 cases in a day
In a Wednesday email obtained by The News & Observer, county Health Department Director Scott LaVigne told county officials that Franklin saw more than 450 tests reported on a single day in late November.
Of those tests, the rate of positive results topped 10% — more than twice the state’s targeted rate.
He sent similar statistics to Cordeiro, Youngsville’s town manager, explaining that conditions will soon worsen.
“The timing of Youngsville’s parade, nine days after Thanksgiving, places it right at a time when many Thanksgiving-related virus-exposed people will have become infectious,” he wrote. “Given that most community transmission of the virus is by people who are either asymptomatic ... or pre-symptomatic ... events such as this parade are completely avoidable health crises in the making.”
Youngsville has a history of avoiding COVID-19 cautions.
In April, Franklin County imposed a curfew lasting from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Youngsville declined. At the time, the mayor said the town would protect residents’ right to travel freely.
In the email to county officials, LaVigne said Franklin’s medical staff is struggling to keep up. Nursing staff may soon be forced to work weekends.
“It’s easy for those on the outside to think, ‘Hey, it’s just a one-hour parade, ease up a little,’ “ he wrote. “What they don’t understand is that this one ‘little parade’ can lead to dozens of new infections and several deaths, possibly in people who never even attended the parade. ... We have seen countless examples of how it only takes ONE positive person to make any event into a super-spreader event.”
Youngsville’s parade is set to begin Saturday at 10 a.m.
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 8:27 AM.