This week, the Grinch visited the region and stole Christmas.

At least it seems that way, when Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce officials announced the cancellation of the Bolenz Jewelry Holiday Parade through downtown Alpena that was scheduled for Nov. 27.

We understand the reasoning.

We don’t blame officials for making a tough call.

But we also know that with that news comes major disappoint for many of us who love the parade, the ambience of the evening, and the twinkling of the lights. The parade was magical, and certainly was a wonderful way to usher in the holiday season.

To have held the parade would have been irresponsible in light of the recent Michigan Department of Health and Human Services regulations regarding crowd sizes at gatherings.

So we understand the logic to canceling the parade.

We just lament the fact that here is another disruption of something we looked forward to in our lives this year.

One of these days, hopefully, we all will look back and share stories of how we survived the insanity of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We believe we all would be in agreement that day can’t arrive soon enough.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)