Philadelphia cancels 4th of July parade due to extreme heat, organizers say
Philadelphia's Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial Parade has been canceled due to extreme heat in the weather forecast, organizers told vendors and participants early Friday morning.
The parade was set to take place Friday in Old City.
"More than disappointed, we're heartbroken. These folks have worked so hard," Wawa Welcome America President and CEO Michael DelBene told CBS News Philadelphia.
Temperatures are set to exceed 100 degrees and feel even hotter due to humidity as the region enters Day 5 of a heat wave. On Thursday, July 2, the city tied its record high temperature of 103 degrees.
"It's a very, very collaborative decision. Welcome America doesn't make these decisions in a vacuum. We speak at length with the city's various public safety agencies, with city leadership. We spent a few hours hunkered down in a conference room last night trying to reimagine the parade, reconfigure it," DelBene said.
Organizers told vendors their first responsibility was the safety of the participants and guests. The production company running the parade was reaching out to participants individually to inform them of the cancellation.
"We wanted to give this parade every chance it possibly could to go on, and it was only after exhausting every other sort of scenario that we decided to make the decision," DelBene said.
One representative told CBS News Philadelphia organizers tried to find a solution that would allow the event to be held safely, but heat-related incidents, including Thursday's Union Pacific Big Boy event in Berks County, contributed to the decision to cancel.
"As much as this decision pains everyone inside our organization, we simply cannot host an event of this size and scale under these dangerous heat conditions," DelBene said in a statement. "Todd Marcocci and Under the Sun Productions, along with all the parade groups, have been working tirelessly to design something truly historic, and having to cancel it at the last minute is heartbreaking for all of us. While large-scale celebrations and community events may be our mission, our first responsibility will always be to the safety and security of our staff, our guests, and our event participants."
Participants got the news in an email at 1 a.m. Wawa Welcome America's official social media pages shared the news around 7:20 a.m.
Visit Philadelphia held free pop-up performances throughout the city's historic district to keep the celebration alive for visitors from noon to 2:30 p.m.
"Not just important for the participants and performers, but also for the visitors. We have people who are here visiting Philadelphia - this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them, they wanted to be here in the city where it all began, and we want to give them a really momentous, special, meaningful core memory-making experience here," Kathryn Ott Lovell, President and CEO of the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation, said.
The plan includes having performers at the Betsy Ross House, Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, Independence Visitor Center, City Tavern, Franklin Square, Carpenters' Hall, Liberty Garden and behind Independence Hall.
Now that the parade is canceled, SEPTA has called off the planned bus detours around the parade route.
This extreme heat has threatened temperature records and had a major impact on the Philadelphia region's observances of America's 250th anniversary.
Friday night's Pops on Independence concert featuring Idina Menzel is still on, but has been pushed back to 8 p.m.
On Monday, organizers said the route would be cut down to about 1 mile to reduce risks in the heat.
Thursday night, the Wawa Welcome America Salute to Service concert featuring Queen Latifah was canceled due to the heat. A 10 p.m. independence-themed drone show went on as scheduled.
CBS News Philadelphia is tracking other events delayed by the heat here.
