Grand Rapids Jaycees Cancel 2021 Santa Parade Due To Concerns Over Covid-19

As first reported by our media partner Fox 17, the 2021 Santa Parade has been canceled in Grand Rapids due to concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Unfortunately, it will be another year without a Santa in West Michigan, at least as far as the Santa Parade goes. The annual parade presented by the Grand Rapids Jaycees that ushers in the Christmas season and officially welcomes Santa to Grand Rapids will once again be canceled due to concerns about Coronavirus spread.

While it looked as if we may have been putting the pandemic behind us in the Spring and Early Summer, drastically dropping vaccination rates and the spread of the Delta Variant have led public health officials to speculate that this fall & winter could see another deadly surge in cases.

The Jaycees made the announcement on the Santa Parade website with a simple statement:

The parade for 2021 has been cancelled due to covid concerns. Stay tuned for information about 2022.

It is unknown at this time if any alternate plans would be put in place. Last year parade organizers had hoped to stage a 'Reverse Parade' where the floats and entrants would line the streets while spectators drove by to see the floats and entries, but that plan was scrapped due to a surge in Michigan Covid-19 cases in November of last year.

It is currently unknown if alternate plans will be made for this year's event. You can keep up with the Santa Parade on their Facebook page here: GR Santa Parade