Bloomfield Residents Protest Cancellation Of Halloween Parade
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BLOOMFIELD (KDKA) -- For the past 48 years, Bloomfield has played host to one of the largest Halloween parades in the area, but this year, the parade has been canceled.
"We were outraged as a community because nobody told us," Bloomfield resident Lee Ann Salerno said. "Nobody in the City Council of Bloomfield, nobody."
The announcement came via the Citizens Council website, which reads, "The Bloomfield Citizens Council will be taking a sabbatical from the 2017 parade." The reason – rising costs.
"For us to find out so late, it was just heart-wrenching, absolutely heart-wrenching," resident Dana Murphy said.
Concerned citizens from the community took to the streets Sunday to make it known they are not happy with the parade's cancellation. A small but vocal group got attention, marching from the Sciullo Baseball Field to Friendship Park.
"I know that a lot of kids like to get candy, but I like to see the people that put a lot of effort into it," one young girl said.
"I like the marching and seeing all the costumes and all the well-put-together floats," Justin Salerno said.
The Bloomfield Halloween Parade is very personal to the people who live here. Emotions ran high as the pros and cons of cancelling the parade were debated at the field.
Organizers of Sunday's protest say they would like to either come up with the money for the budget shortfall or plan a replacement Halloween event for the kids. Because they say that's what the parade is really all about – the kids.
Late Sunday night, organizers of the Pittsburgh Columbus Day Parade and Bloomfield Little Italy Days offered to donate and help raise money for the Halloween parade. The groups plan to sit down with the Bloomfield Citizens Council to discuss the offer.
