*effects

Poor Gayle - no birthday bash this year (fyi - she loves a parade, which is why the things exists in the first place and it would have fallen ON her birthday for once). Quick, someone whip up a batch of her beloved Los Amigos magarita mix for her. Happy returns ol' girl.

Boo Sandy! Thank you to the sponsors who have spent a considerable sum already:

"Del Ray Business Association (DRBA). Special thanks to Jen Walker as our primary sponsor & sponsor of the Best Decorated House & to Bobi Bomar sponsor of the Best Decorated Stroller & Paul Hair from Your Dog’s Best Friend for his sponsorships of the Best Pet Costume"

This was the wrong decision.

Can the parade be rescheduled? It's so sad- the kids and pets have so much fun.

I'm getting conflicting info on this storm - some are saying that things are supposed to hit this area sometime on Sunday, but others are saying that Monday and Tuesday will be be the bad days. Does anyone have a trusted site that has a good track record for getting these things right? Why not wait until Sunday morning to make the decision?

Exactly Gail. Especially since the plan now is to flat-out cancel it rather than schedule a rain date.

Essentially they're canceling the parade because of the threat of rain. No forecast I've read mentions anything about strong winds until late Sunday or early Monday.

Really doesn't matter to me as I'm in Houston until Wednesday but it seems awfully, awfully premature to cancel. There is absolutely no safety risk in waiting until Saturday night to make this call.

It would be cancelled for no reason if the storm path changes and misses this area . . .

The Jets and Eagles games haven't been cancelled. Just sayin'...

I'm sure the decision was made with all of the available info w input by all concerned, eapecially Alexandria Police, Fire and Park & Rec. I'm going to go out on a
limb (lame pun intended) and guess that a Sunday call would be too late given the resources committed.
Happy Birthday Gayle, your margarita is waiting for you at the Taqueria!

Drew, do Lewis and Urneas share the same IP? The stalky and aggressive tendencies are uncanny. So is the ignorance.

And, btw, Edmund, I'd be more than happy to meet and discuss this in person if you prefer.

Is that a "no" on meeting for a discussion?

Jeff - thank you for your comments and you are correct. There were lots of serious issues to be considered before a decision was made to cancel including the reason you gave. For the volunteers that have spent 100's of hours the last couple of months to put this parade on and for the businesses that funded this event at a cost of almost $10,000 with expenses and in kind donations, believe me, no one is more disappointed then we are.
McBrinn, I know you often have opinions on why things are done the way they are, you are always welcome to volunteer & devote the time and work to try to make this community a great place to live and find out why things are done the way they are.
And Jeff, I know exactly where I will be for my birthday margarita - thank you!

I thought so.

The self loathing just oozes out of your keyboard.

Why is the parade canceled when the storm isn't going to arrive until 36 hours later?

Gayle, Thanks for all you do and have done for this. The Halloween parade is not free. We made a decision based on information we had at the time. McBrinn if you are in Houston how could you be a volunteer? Are you ever happy?

Thats a strange comment Del Rey 23. Plenty of us in the DC area travel frequently! I was in NOLA yesterday and will (hopefully!) be in Chicago on Wednesday.

Gayle, thanks for the thoughful explanation of this difficult decision. Of course, you can't see into the future so you have to make the best call with the info you have,

McBrinn here Del RAY. Are you claiming that everyone who volunteered for the now foolishly canceled parade is currently located within the 22301 zip code?

Want to place a large bet on that?

I'm not sure why anyone would allow these postings, they should be deleted. It's about a children's Halloween Parade, wouldn't have been better to just find a place on the avenue to host a Halloween Party inside? That way the children could have shown up in their costumes if the weather permitted. Drew, you should delete these comments, I know I am not interested in them and I doubt anyone else is, maybe they could exchange email adresses and keep it between themselves.

I would venture that the kids in their costumes are more mature than a few of the commenters on this post. Stay Klassy...

Much agreed with the last two posts. Taking the comments off the air.

Joseph_M,

Who are you to ask anyone any direct questions about their specific contributions when you don't even use your full name?! Talk about hypocrisy!

These criticisms are really uncalled for. We are all disappointed - most especially the organizers, I'm sure. None of us can predict the weather exactly and they made the best decision with what information they had. Imagine if they decided to have it and the forecast for today got worse - not better. These people volunteer countless hours to make del ray the special place it is, and we all benefit from it. I am thankful for all they do... Nancy (East Nelson Avenue)

I'm reposting from just a minute ago from another section of The Patch:

There are several clusters of large metal barriers, (the kind they use to block of side streets during Art on the Avenue) all up and down Mt. Vernon Avenue tonight. I imagine they were staged there in anticipation of blocking off the side streets for the Halloween Parade that was cancelled. They are not tied down to anything. If the wind does gust up to 60+ MPH tomorrow and those are not removed in time, I can imagine those things are going to do serious damage to most of the windows and vehicles on Mt. Vernon Ave. I phoned the police Non-Emergency number tonight and was told that the Watch Commander would be told. However, I'm unsure of who's problem this is. Does anyone know who put those barriers there? If so, they are going to be an EXTREME hazard to life and property if not tied down or removed. They sit in clusters of five at several locations up and down the avenue.
Thanks.

Please note that all the metal barriers/bike racks have just been picked up by the Sheriff's Department. Special thanks to Dana Lawhorne who immediately dispatched his staff to get them after we contacted him. Hopefully we can all keep our First Responders and City Staff in our thoughts and prayers as they currently and will continue to be out there during this Hurricane.

I think the OVERLY disappointed parents are the real spoiled kids in this situation. I look forward to thia parade every year myself but as a responsible adult I realize we put responsible adults in charge of these things to make a very hard call to protect the health and welfare of our children. I salute the decision of those folks who put in so many hours on this, I look forward to next years parade and wish the rest of the negative folks will jump in next year of their couches and actually take on a significant roll to help make this event even better next year!