Fourth of July Activities Rained Out

Forecasted heavy rains and thunderstorms for Cartersville on Thursday have caused the cancellation of the city’s annual Fourth of July parade and has forced the Cartersville Optimist Club to reschedule its activities at Dellinger Park.

Matt Santini, station manager at AM 1450-WBHF, which hosts the parade with Georgia Bank and Trust and the Optimist Club, said the parade planned for Thursday morning has been cancelled entirely.

Saturday had been tapped as a make-up day, but Santini said the weather is not expected to cooperate then either.

“The forecast for Saturday continues to look worse,” Santini said. “We put a great deal of time and effort coordinating and promoting the parade, and we have had a great participation from the community. We delayed making a decision as long as we could in hopes of having the parade, and we are disappointed in having to cancel it for this year.”

Bruce Lindler with the Optimist Club said that the decision to move the club-sponsored afternoon activities at Dellinger Park and the evening fireworks display to Labor Day was made after seeing the probability of rain Friday and Saturday.

According to The Weather Channel, there is an 80 percent chance of rain on Friday and a 30 percent chance of rain on Saturday.

"We decided that the best thing to do would be to move it to Labor Day," Lindler said. "That was the decision made by the club."

Despite the rescheduling, Lindler said most vendors will still be able to attend in September and that there is a chance additional vendors may participate.

"We may even be able to get some more signups," Lindler said. "There’s the possibility of increasing instead of decreasing overall."