Parades, city events through June may be axed over coronavirus, de Blasio says
Parades and other Big Apple events scheduled for the month of June are on the chopping block and may be canceled as the city continues to grapple with the coronavirus crisis, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.
“June is when we start to really feel the summer and even want those, those big, wonderful events more, but we’ve got a lot we’ve got to get done to be safe for June,” de Blasio said in his daily conference call with reporters.
The mayor added, “We are far from out of the woods” when it comes to the virus that has already claimed the lives of more than 12,000 city residents and infected more than 122,000 people in the Big Apple.
The Pride Parade, which would be marking its 50th anniversary, and the Puerto Rican Day Parade are among the events that now hang in the balance as de Blasio says a final decision has yet to be made for scheduled June events.
Shakespeare in the Park, the annual summertime festival that typically runs from May to August in Central Park, has been canceled, marking the first time the free event won’t run in its 58-year history, its operator, the Public Theater announced Friday.
The Big Apple has already announced that all city-permitted events scheduled for May will be canceled. Included among those events is the Brooklyn Half Marathon, the largest in the country.
