This year’s Knox Peppermint Parade is canceled, due to COVID-19. Mayor Dennis Estok made the announcement to the city council Tuesday.
“We’ve got a big rise in cases in Starke County, in Knox, Indiana. We’ve had deaths,” Estok said. “So, therefore, we are canceling the Peppermint Parade and all the activities. There’ll be nothing. Just to be on the safe and for the safety of all the people, it’s in the best interests that the city cancel that.”
The pandemic has forced Knox to cancel many of the events it had planned for this year. But with an effective COVID-19 vaccine appearing to be getting closer, Estok is hopeful that the city will be able to resume its activities next summer. “We are already scheduling some of the events, booking the entertainers and all of that, but there will be an understanding with the contract that if, due to this crisis, we have to cancel again, that we’re not obligated. They’re not obligated,” he explained.
The mayor said it’s been a tough monitoring the virus and keeping track of the governor’s executive orders and health officials’ directives.
