Gov. Abbott Criticizes Austin For Canceling Veterans Day Parade

Austin TX

10 November, 2021

2:02 PM

Description

AUSTIN, TX — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is criticizing Austin over COVID-19 restrictions that led to the cancellation of the popular Austin Veterans Day Parade. Abbott on Tuesday offered up the south steps of the Capitol building as an alternative rally spot to the parade, which was called off by what the governor called "the City of Austin's overreaching COVID-19 requirements." Last month, the Austin Veterans Day Parade Foundation announced it would cancel this year's parade because the city required the organizers to "verify all participants and spectators to have either a current negative Covid test or be vaccinated" for the outdoor parade. Live in Austin? Click here to subscribe to our free breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox and mobile devices. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and download our free mobile app on Android or iPhone. "This is something that we could not do as we anticipated some 30,000 attendees to the parade," the foundation said at the time. "We are hopeful that in 2022, the restrictions on public gatherings will be back to normal." The City of Austin's overreaching COVID requirements have forced the Austin Veterans Parade Foundation to cancel their annual event. I'm inviting them to host a rally on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol. We celebrate our nation's heroes in Texas. pic.twitter.com/0BsyIBGQF3— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 9, 2021 Abbott said the city "placed an undue burden on large events like the 2021 Veterans Day Parade." "The State of Texas will always support our military veterans, and we are committed to ensuring that the traditions of Veterans Day are kept alive in the capital city," the governor said. While Abbott may have offered the group to rally, organizers of the parade are "respectfully declining" help from the governor, according to a Facebook post. Jim Darwin, chairman of the Austin Veterans Parade Foundation, said in the social media post the organizers have already committed themselves to participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Veterans Pocket Park, 2200 Veterans Drive. Darwin said the ceremony will be the only event that the Austin Veterans Parade Foundation will be involved in this year. The parade typically draws tens of thousands of people, and event organizers said while they anticipated 30,000 people at this year's event, they "couldn't verify all participants and spectators to have either a current negative COVID test or be vaccinated," as required by current city regulations. The City of Austin said parade organizers did not submit a COVID-19 Health & Safety form to Austin Public Health for review before the parade. This ultimately made organizers decide to cancel this year's event. "Like so many other organizations that have had to cancel their event, the Austin Pride Parade, the Bat Festival and Pecan Street Festival, the Austin Veterans Parade Foundation determined that the unworkable Covid 19 rules imposed by the Austin Public Health Department were unattainable and too costly to deal with," Darwin said. Event organizers are hoping to stage the parade in 2022.