PALM COAST – The City of Palm Coast on Thursday announced the cancellation of the coming weekend’s Starlight Parade, on account of incoming severe weather. The parade was scheduled to take place on Saturday in Town Center.
“This difficult decision has been made in collaboration with our public safety and emergency management partners considering the anticipated severe weather conditions that pose a risk to the safety of both participants and spectators,” the city said in their announcement. “The safety of the community is always the top priority. Given the forecasted severe weather conditions, it is believed to be in the best interest of everyone involved to cancel the Starlight Parade.”
Flagler County, along with the surrounding area, are anticipated to be hit with a major storm system over the coming days, with heavy rains on Saturday and Sunday. The Flagler County Emergency Management Department has advised that winds will be 25 to 35 miles per hour sustained, with frequent gusts at 40 to 45 miles per hour.
The city also clarified that the event will not be made up at a later date, but will instead be called off entirely. The next running of the Starlight Parade is still expected to take place in December 2024, and so those who are disappointed in the scrubbing of this year’s event will still have something to look forward to.
The Rotary Club of Flagler County are holding their 18th Annual Fantasy Lights Festival at Central Park in Town Center on December 30th from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm. Those who were planning on attending the Starlight Parade were encouraged by the City of Palm Coast to attend that event instead.
So all the hard work that everyone did to get their floats ready is all wasted. not to mention the time on planning and the money spent to decorate their floats. I remember when I participated in the parade back in 2018,(I won overall best of parade btw) it took me and a group of people a little over a month the get everything ready and built on the float. I understand the precaution because of the weather, but why not have the parade another night (like monday) The city screwed this up where they should have had it earlier in the month. Hell stores are selling the decorations at the beginning of November so why not have the parade the first weekend in December and the following weekend can be the boat parade. Problem solved. Just another bad planned event by the city government.