By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
The annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in St. Joseph has been indefinitely postponed.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians made the announcement on its Facebook page, stating that the 34th annual St. Joseph St. Patrick’s Parade has been indefinitely postponed due to COVID-19 health concerns. The parade was to be held Saturday.
“This difficult decision was made due to rising concerns over the last 24 hours, including the pronouncement from the World Health Organization that the virus constitutes a pandemic, and guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control. We were also influenced by the many similar, large event gatherings being canceled in our region.”
Organizers of the parade say they took the action out of an abundance of caution.
“We feel that we need to take responsibility for containment of the spread and must indefinitely postpone the parade,” according to the Ancient Order of Hibernians web page.
A decision to reschedule may be made as circumstances become clearer, according to the Facebook post.