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Pittsburgh’s Labor Day Parade canceled again this year due to Covid-19 concerns

PITTSBURGH — Leaders with the Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council and area officials on Wednesday announced that Pittsburgh’s popular Labor Day Parade will be canceled for the second year in a row.

The groups gathered at the City-County Building downtown to make the announcement.

The parade was canceled in 2020 as cases of COVID-19 spread through the area. Leaders said the decision to cancel again this year was based on high transmission levels of the delta variant and concerns for the safety of parade participants and spectators.

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A particular concern mentioned Wednesday was that the parade normally features more than 1,000 teachers, and leaders said they could not in good conscience have that many teachers in a crowd of thousands and then send them back into classrooms, where children under the age of 12 are not eligible to be vaccinated.

“Our parade is more than the men and women of Organized Labor. We have bands, we have dance teams, children walking with their parents. We will protect these children; we will protect these residents,” Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council President Darrin Kelly said.

County Executive Rich Fitzgerald supports the decision, saying the parade is an all-day, big family event with crowds of people from across the region.

“As much as this is a great tradition and we are going to miss it and prefer having it, I think it’s the responsible thing to do,” Fitzgerald said.

Leaders say they will still continue the Labor Day weekend of service, which includes a blood drive and several park and memorial cleanups. And they hope the Labor Day Parade will be back next year.