Popular Clarkson Christmas Tree Lighting event cancelled

aa-11-24
aa-11-24

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed another popular Christmas event.

The Clarkson City Commission has decided to cancel its annual Christmas Tree Lighting event held each year at the Clarkson City Hall and Community Center.

Clarkson City Clerk-Treasurer Scotty Gore said officials “wanted to try and do some sort of outdoor tree lighting … with possibly Santa on a fire truck, since of course we can’t do our usual indoor tree lighting with (a) large crowd inside the Clarkson Community Center.”

The commission, though, considered the continuing surge of COVID-19 cases in Grayson County and opted not to host the event, which annually draws a few hundred children and parents.

“With the virus cases continuing to skyrocket, the mayor (Bonnie Henderson) and city commissioners have decided to cancel (the) plans they made for the outdoor lighting event,” Gore said.

The cancellation comes a week after Leitchfield officials cancelled the Hometown Christmas Parade out of concerns for the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday, Grayson County Health Department Director Josh Embry reported 62 new cases of the virus and two new deaths in the county since Friday. Currently, Grayson County, along with 115 other Kentucky counties, are considered “red zones” for the virus, indicating a dangerously “critical” spread of the virus within the community, according to the Kentucky Department for Public Health.

Grayson Count has now had 890 cases of the virus confirmed since the beginning of the pandemic about eight months ago, with 25 deaths blamed on the virus.

By Ken Howlett, News Director

Contact Ken at ken@k105.com