Although there is light at the end of the tunnel regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and residents of Berkshire County are getting vaccinated, precautions are still in place and that means for the second year in a row, there will be no 4th of July parade and road race this year.

Slater and Marjo spoke with Mayor Linda Tyer on Friday morning and she announced the sad, but necessary news which is in accordance with Governor Baker's re-opening plan.

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Effective Saturday, May 29:

  • Gathering limits will increase to 200 people indoors and 250 people outdoors for event venues, public settings and private settings
  • Street festivals, parades and agricultural festivals can operate at 50% of their previous capacity

Since all restrictions won't be lifted until Aug.1, this obviously affects Pittsfield's 4th of July parade and road race.

"Governor Baker has started to lift restrictions and one of the restrictions that will be lifted is large outdoor gatherings but there are still some limitations", said Tyer. "You can only have 50% participation. So for example, the 4th of July parade, we would have to look back to 2019, try to guess how many participants were involved and limit that to 50%. That's a really difficult thing to do for the 4th of July parade and Third Thursday and how do we monitor it and how do we control it. So it's not possible to have the 4th of July parade this year and we won't be having any Third Thursdays until possibly the fall."

Listen below.

Details on this month's virtual Third Thursday are here.

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