Electric Light Parade Canceled Due To Ugly Weather Predictions

Citing predictions of heavy rain throughout the day for Sunday, the committee behind the annual Three Village Electric Holiday Parade has canceled the event.

The decision was made early Friday afternoon, said Cheryl Davey, organizer of the event, who had spent "hours and hours upon hours" over the last several weeks coordinating the parade for its parent sponsor, Team Ardolino. E-mail notifications were sent out and a note was posted on the parade website.

"I'm bummed," Davey said. "It's just unbelievable, but what are we going to do? It's not going to be any fun."

According to weather.com, there is a 90 percent chance of steady rain on Sunday with 19-mile-per-hour winds and temperatures which would feel around 40 degrees.

It's the second time in the 16-year history of the parade that it had to be canceled.

Davey said a few snow flurries would have been tolerated as a symbol of holiday spirit, but heavy rain is another story.

Inclement weather marred last year's electric light parade, too, and Davey said many participants did not want to go through the same experience. She had 48 groups signed up to march this year, including one with about 60 kids, and said some had started to back out when they heard the weather predictions.

"It was going to be huge," she said, adding that moving the parade date wasn't an option because rescheduling the associated resources, such as police escorts and the town bandshell, would have been too big an undertaking.

The news saddened many, like Carmine Inserra, a Three Village resident who spent more than 30 hours working on a 10-foot "Guitar Hero" themed float for the parade. He plans to store his float's framework for next year's parade, joking that he might erect it in his front yard after the storm on Sunday to get some use out of it this year.

"Many family and friends were looking forward to the parade since I had been talking it up for so long," Inserra said. "The ones I've been able to notify so far are very disappointed. Maybe the organizers could figure a rain date into the plan next year."

But Bob Brown, a past president of the Three Village Chamber of Commerce, said the cancellation was a good call.

"We must always think of the well being and safety of our viewers and participants," Brown said.