At their regular meeting on Tuesday, May 4, the Pagosa Springs Town Council approved tentative plans for an upcoming Fourth of July parade, fireworks display, and carnival.
According to the tentative plans, a parade will be allowed on Saturday morning, July 3, mustering at Pagosa Springs High School, heading down South Sixth Street, parading east along three blocks of Highway 160, and then heading down Hot Springs Boulevard on the way back to the high school.
Fireworks are planned for the evening of July 4th.
The plans are still tentative, and will depend upon public health orders that may, or may not, be put in place over the next two months. According to a presentation by Town Manager Andrea Phillips, “Some of the restrictions are being lifted on group gatherings, especially outdoor events. More people are getting vaccinated in our community and currently there are no public health orders or executive orders governing outdoor events…”
Current COVID guidance recommends continued social distancing, however, and a parade is not typically an ideal ‘social distancing’ situation.
“Things are going to have to be a little different this year. July 4 this year is on a Sunday and we are still planning on doing the fireworks… but apparently seven years ago when the Fourth of July was on a Sunday, there was a little bit of a public outcry about having the parade also on a Sunday”… no doubt due to the timing of Sunday church services.
So the tentative plan has the parade scheduled for Saturday.
The parade has, for decades, been organized by the Pagosa Springs Rotary Club, but the club handed much of the responsibility off to the Town government two years ago — for liability reasons, as I recall. Ms. Phillips didn’t mention the club during her presentation earlier this month.
Not everyone on the Council was excited but the idea of hundreds of tourists and locals standing side by side along the parade route.
“I think the parade is a bad idea in general. We are not out of the woods yet, and encouraging a bunch of people from a bunch of different places to stand shoulder to shoulder all through downtown does not seem like a great idea to me,” offered Council member Mat deGraaf.
Council member Shari Pierce also expressed concern about the tentative plans. “If we say we’re going to go forward, but we see things happening that would cause us to cancel it, what would be that point [in time]?”
Phillips explained that, after applying for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) closure permit, the Town would still have an option to cancel the parade until one week prior.
Other Council members expressed support for the planned parade.
Ms. Phillips mentioned several other upcoming events, including ‘Com Fest’, a summer concert series planned with the Parks and Recreation Department.