Pittsburgh Labor Day Parade canceled, other service events on
The annual Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh has been canceled.
With the covid cases rising, organizers decided to wait until 2022, said Darrin Kelly, Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council president.
“Our first commitment is to keep everyone safe,” said Kelly. “We want to protect our members and the community as a whole, including the children who are going back to school this time of year.”
The Labor Council had announced the parade to happen on Sept. 6, starting at 10 a.m. The event was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.
Pittsburgh’s Labor Day Parade is one of the largest and oldest in the country, according to the Labor Council. Kelly said 200,000 people attend the parade, which would make it difficult to social distance.
“It was a tough decision, but it was also the correct decision,” he said. “The numbers aren’t going in the right direction.”
He said the Sept. 3-6 Labor Day Weekend of Service is still on, starting with a blood drive on Sept. 3 at PPG Paints Arena, Uptown. Throughout the weekend there will be multiple park and veteran memorials cleanups.
Kelly had hoped with more people vaccinated that the parade could happen, but has since changed his mind.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.