The first phase of reopening the state’s economy is underway, with Gov. Charlie Baker saying that the surge of COVID-19 cases “is behind us.” This spells a departure from some of the cultural aspects that evolved out of the response to the pandemic.
One of those new traditions is parades led by police and fire personnel past the home of someone who cannot celebrate their birthday in usual fashion due to social distancing requirements and limitations on gatherings. Local departments have taken to social media to announce the birthday parades will cease.
“It was certainly our pleasure and honor to help celebrate birthdays with everyone over the past two months,” the Greenfield Police Department’s Facebook post reads, “but as things are starting to open up with the governor’s ‘Safer at Home’ policy, we feel that we need to get to our ‘new normal’ as well.”
Lt. William Gordon said the parades will conclude Monday, and requests are no longer being accepted. He explained warmer weather means staff numbers start to drop due to vacations, and the manpower cannot be spared.
As many as three or four parades were held every weekday in Greenfield, and there were upward of six or seven on Saturdays and Sundays, Gordon said. They were always held at 11 a.m., unless there was an emergency that required police presence, and Gordon said his department participated in at least 100 parades since they started in the second week of April.
“It was definitely a labor of love. I mean, we really loved it,” he said.
Orange Police Chief James Sullivan said his department held a few parades each week, organized by Sgt. Adam Cooley, but now it’s time to refocus on traditional police work.
“We want to concentrate on making the roads safe, because more people are getting out and about now,” he explained. “I think we did pretty good in terms of getting to most of them. I think we missed a couple because we had stuff going on.”
Sullivan said his crew will still get involved with parades for special circumstances. He said officers enjoy the events.
“It was a break from the norm,” he said. “It was something a little different for them.”
Athol Police Chief Craig Lundgren said his department made a decision about two weeks ago to stop holding the parades as of Monday. He said officers will still honor the ones scheduled, but requests are no longer being taken.
Echoing Lt. Gordon in Greenfield, Lundgren said staffing gets tighter in the summer because members of the Athol Police Department use vacation time.
“It was a great thing. We loved doing it,” he said of the parades.
Athol was organizing as many as five parades a week, Lundgren said. Traditional police duties also occasionally made it difficult to get somewhere at a certain time. He said there were occasions where a family was left waiting for the parade while officers responded to an emergency.
“Then you feel like you let them down,” he said. “It’s certainly not something that we intend to do — it just happens.”
Lundgren said it was also nice to collaborate with members of neighboring towns’ departments, including Orange, for some of the parades.
“That was a benefit,” he said.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.