The Fourth of July is usually a wild weekend in Highlands.
It’s a time that residents, visitors and business owners look forward to all year.
With the holiday falling on a Saturday in 2020, and coming off a huge celebration in 2019, it appeared as if Highlands was in a unique position to make this Independence Day the biggest and the best yet.
That was before anyone had ever heard of COVID-19, of course.
On Friday, Highlands Parks and Recreation Director Lester Norris informed the rec committee that the annual Fourth of July events put on by the town had been officially cancelled. There won’t be any sack races, rocket launches, water balloon tosses or tug-o-war at the baseball field.
It was a hard decision, but it was the right one.
Earlier this month the Highlands Chamber of Commerce announced that the Independence Day fireworks were being moved back to Labor Day weekend on Sept. 5. Bringing a large crowd of people into one place, even a space as large as Kelsey-Hutchinson Founder’s Park, was simply too big of a risk to take.
With positive test results and COVID-19 active cases increasing daily in Macon County, it makes sense to error on the side of caution and shutter the Fourth of July activities.
Not having the traditional events available might make the holiday weekend feel more subdued, but it won’t change the fact that Highlands will be bustling with crowds looking to escape the heat of Georgia, Florida, Alabama and countless other locations.
Everyone, resident and visitor alike, should take the proper precautions to slow the spread of COVID-19 during the tourism season. Frequent hand washing, maintaining a six-foot social distance and wearing a face covering in public will all remain best practices through Independence Day and likely well beyond.
The Fourth of July weekend won’t look or feel the same as years past – but nothing has felt normal in nearly six months. Hopefully, the Independence Day festivities will be back in 2021, bigger and better than ever before.