Tallulah Mayor Charles Finlayson has announced that the Christmas Along the Bayou Festival will be canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“This year’s festival will be canceled until next year to ensure that we do not negligently expose our citizens to this pandemic,” said Mayor Charles Finlayson. “I’m making the decision out of concern and safety for our citizens. As much as I do not want to cancel this annual community event, with the way things are right now it’s the decision I have to make.”
Normally, festival committee members begin planning for the festival in June, as it takes at least six months to put everything in place. “Of course right now, we can’t have the Christmas Choir because we can’t have that many people in one place singing and rehearsing due to the current situation with COVID-19,” Finlayson continued. “We aren’t the only municipality in Louisiana that has had to put off big community events. It hurts us economically and as a community but as I said, the safety of our citizens is my main concern.”
Finlayson said that he would not rule out having some sort of Christmas event. “Whether that is just having the fireworks only, I’m open to that if we can do it safely,” he said. “We just have to wait right now and see how things are going to work out. I have been in touch with the fireworks company and they are aware that."
