TONAWANDA, N.Y. — With so many festivals and events returning this summer after a hiatus caused by the pandemic, one northtowns favorite is returning minus its community parade.
Canal Fest of the Tonawandas is enjoyed by thousands of people each year and the annual parade through the Twin Cities is a long tradition that kicks off the festival.
Organizers say it's a simple matter of the parade being too expensive to do this year after two years of no festival income.
"We actually pay the bands to come and participate at the parade, which I never knew that for the first couple of years, I was working with Canal Fest. But we pay about approximately 20 groups to come in and actually walk through the parade. So because of the last couple of years, we haven't had the Canal Fest, and we're kind of short on funds," Debbie Darling Canal Fest organizer said.
Now this is just the parade that's being cancelled the rest of Canal Fest will begin as scheduled on July 17.
For more information about the event, click here.