Plymouth Cancels America's Hometown Thanksgiving Parade

PLYMOUTH, MA — Plymouth was dealt another blow in what should have been a year-long celebration marking the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims' arrival in the New World.

Organizers of America's Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration canceled the 2020 installment of the annual parade, making it the latest event to fall victim to this year's coronavirus crisis.

"There will be no Thanksgiving celebration this year," Olly DeMacedo, the executive director of America's Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration parade in Plymouth, said in a video posted Wednesday on the event Website. "For the safety for all our volunteers, and mainly for the safety for all of the public that come to this event, we're unable to put it on this year."

The parade has grown each year since it first stepped off in 1996. Organizers had expected about 200,000 people to attend this year's parade, which would have featured more than 20 floats and hundreds of marching units.

DeMacedo said the parade would return in 2021 and organizers plan to use the event to mark the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

"We're in this thing together. We're going to get through this, and we're going to be bigger and better," DeMacedo said. "We really look forward to putting on this great event again."

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).