COVID Cancels Middletown Veterans Day Parade, Set For Sunday

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Middletown's Veterans Day parade, which was scheduled for Sunday, November 8, has been postponed.

No make-up date has been scheduled yet, said the town. Middletown's annual — and popular — Veterans Day parade was supposed to go from 12 to 2 p.m. this Sunday.

"This was largely a COVID-related decision," said Middletown's town administrator Tony Mercantante. "We have been planning the event for a couple of months, but always with the provision that conditions at the time could the event could impact it."

"Statewide COVID positives have been increasing and although Middletown’s numbers have been relatively good compared to the whole state, even our numbers have been going up," he continued. "We also received some medical advice that suggested the parade might not be a good idea right now. When you consider that the majority of the parade participants would be veterans, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, you can see why this was the most sensible decision right now."

"We had already imposed many safety restrictions, had the parade happened," he added. "Everyone would have to be masked, two persons per vehicle max, possibly no or limited band participation, etc. Also the wild card was how many people would show up to attend/watch? With the beautiful weather that number might have been high."

The town made the decision to cancel Friday morning "out of an abundance of caution," he said.