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R-3 marching band will not be in Christmas parade

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The Lebanon Area Chamber of Commerce plans to continue with this year’s Christmas parade after the Lebanon R-3 Marching Band announced it would not be taking part in the event.

The Christmas parade is set for Nov. 21 with the theme “Together for Christmas.” Will Bradley has been chosen as grand marshal.

Chamber Executive Director Darrell Pollock said Thursday they had just learned of the school district’s decision, but the Chamber still planned to hold the parade.

“It’s a time-honored tradition in the area. It’s unfortunate that we’re just in kind of a mess of a year,” he said. “We may not have bands in it this year, my mind is already going to what can we do to implement some different type of music and entertainment throughout the parade route. We’ll try to discuss and do some planning on that.”

Pollock said the parade is an important event for the community. 

“We want to kick off the Christmas season just like we typically do in our Lebanon Christmas parade fashion,” Pollock said. “It may be kind of a different parade this year, but we think we’re going to continue on with it.”

The Lebanon School District said in a statement Thursday that it has decided to not participate in any community and city events this semester because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and current community spread. 

For more on this story see Saturday's LCR.