Andrews – COVID-19 has claimed three more victims, as Cruise Night for the Kids, Oktoberfest and Christmas on Main have all been canceled.
However, the Andrews Chamber of Commerce plans to continue to hold the annual Magic on Main Christmas Parade, just on an earlier date. The parade, which was originally scheduled for Dec. 12, will now be held on Nov. 28, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, chamber President Gayle Horton said.
“By then, hopefully, we’ll be able to have a good Christmas parade,” Horton said.
Because of the coronavirus, the parade will have one other change. Instead of throwing candy to eager youngsters lining the roadways, which has created potentially unsafe situations in previous years, gift bags of treats will be handed out along the parade route by gloved volunteers.
Both the Christmas on Main street fair and Oktoberfest already were accepting applications from vendors, but Christmas on Main had only received 13 so far due to the virus. Usually, that event has about 56 of its 100 vendors committed by now, Horton said. As a result, the chamber decided it was best to cancel both Christmas on Main as well as Oktoberfest.
Andrews Cruise Night for the Kids organizers decided to cancel the annual fall Cruise Night, which is usually held in October, for the health and safety of the community. Organizer Susie Bryant said no decision has been made about the annual Christmas party for local children, which the funds raised at the cruises go toward.
She said they do have the funds needed to hold the party. Each child gets a gift and also gets to visit with Santa.
“If the COVID is still going around, there is no way we could keep people 6 feet away and sanitize everything,” Bryant said. “This is really breaking my heart.”