Numerous Independence Day parades across the mid-Atlantic have been canceled due to extreme heat, including in Cape May, New Jersey, where people decorate golf carts and bicycles with patriotic trim for an annual parade along the ocean.
Other communities modified plans due to the heat. York County, Pennsylvania, postponed its “History Made Here Cultural Fair” but is planning to hold a bell-ringing celebration on Saturday. Annapolis, Maryland, shortened its parade route due to the heat and Collingswood, New Jersey, offered a modified bike parade route option and added an ice cream truck at the end of the route.
New Jersey’s state capital, Trenton, postponed its parade and festival, saying it would come up with a new date.
Officials in Takoma Park, Maryland, where a parade and street party were canceled, said parading “is particularly risky” in this heat. Other parades were called off in Leesburg and Warrenton, Virginia.
Some Saturday morning events in the region went forward, taking advantage of the relative cool early in the day. North Wildwood, New Jersey, held its annual “patriotic pooch parade” before the heat peaked.
Towns up and down the East Coast said after-dark fireworks performances would take place as planned.
In Cape May, where the parade cancellation was announced on Facebook, some residents and visitors posted comments bemoaning the decision, while others called it a responsible decision.