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From YouTube: 2021 Mardi Gras Parade Press Conference 12 30 2020
Description
Mayor Andrew "FoFo" Gilich held a press conference at Biloxi City Hall on Wednesday, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m. where he announced the cancelation of the 2021 Mardi Gras parades in Biloxi because of the coronavirus. Kenny Holloway spoke on behalf of the Gulf Coast Carnival Association and Kenny Glavan spoke on behalf of the Krewe of Neptune.
A
B
These
parades
have
always
attracted
many
thousands
of
people,
and
that
is
why
we're
here
today
with
much
consideration
given
to
the
status
of
of
coronavirus
today
in
our
community.
It
should
be
no
surprise
that
we
announced
the
cancellation
of
parade
schedule
to
be
held
in
february
2021,
like
in
a
tsunami
we've
experienced
wave
after
wave
of
the
impact
of
covenanting
on
our
families
and
our
friends.
B
B
B
B
I'll
end
by
saying,
since
1908
over
the
last
112
years,
carnival
has
been
interrupted
during
times
of
war
and
in
1918
during
the
spanish
flu
representative
epidemic.
Be
assured.
This
too
shall
pass-
and
I
will
say
again,
laissez
le
bonton
roulet,
so
with
that
I'll
invite
members
of
gulf
coast
colonization
and
a
carnival
organization
in
neptune
to
for
comments
if
they
choose
and
then
we'll
open
it
up
for
questions.
D
Thank
you,
mayor
gillage,
the
mayor,
and
I
have
been
discussing
this
possibility
for
several
months
now
and
just
kind
of
monitoring
the
situation.
This
is
for
those
of
you
who
love
mardi
gras,
the
way
the
sponsors
of
gulf
coast
carnival
love,
mardi
gras.
This
is
a
sad
day
for
us,
but
under
the
circumstances
we
fully
agree
with
with
the
mayor
and
not
running
the
parades
this
year.
It's
just
a
prudent
thing
to
do.
D
The
numbers
are
not
in
our
favor,
we've
waited
as
long
as
we
can
wait
and,
like
the
mayor,
said,
there's
a
lot
of
planning
that
goes
on
with
this.
So,
like
I
say
it's
it's
a
it's,
not
something
we
wanted
to
do,
but
it's
the
right
thing
to
do
and
we
fully
support
the
mayor
and
his
decision
to
not
roll
the
parade
this
year.
Thank
you.
E
Thank
you
mayor
for
inviting
me
to
come
up
here
and
say
a
few
words.
My
role
is
both
as
city
councilman
and
as
governmental
liaison
for
the
crew
of
neptune,
and
I
will
assure
you,
members
of
our
crew
leadership
of
our
crew
are
completely
heartbroken,
that
we
see
the
numbers
that
are
going.
That
is
not
going
to
allow
us
to
hold
the
night
parade
this
year
in
biloxi.
E
B
Well,
thank
you
ken
thank
you
and
thank
you
and
well.
If
there
are
any
questions,
usually
we'll
be
able
to
answer
anything,
but
I
think
we've
expressed,
you
know
the
need
for
to
safely
roll
these
parades
and
not
do
anything
that
would
be
counter
to
the
people
we
love
and
the
support
of
the
carnival
yeah.
B
Well,
it's
a
bunch,
it's
multi-millions
of
dollars
when
you
look
at
the
whole
economy
of
you,
know,
balls
and
costumes,
and
just
the
the
events
related
to
the
parade,
but
you're
talking
to
150
000
folks.
That
would
attend
these
parades.
You
know
the
impact
we're
not
going
to
try
to
cannot
accommodate.
You
know
anything
because
of
the
dollar
amount
related
to
canceling.
These
parades
with
life
safety
is
the
main
issue,
but
it's
a
multi-million
dollar
impact
to
to
our
economy.
B
Well,
to
be
very
specific
for
months
we've
been
looking
at,
you
know,
hospitalizations,
probably
the
most
realistic
measure,
and
you
know
internally.
You
know
I
was
looking
at
something
below
1
000
hospitalizations.
You
know
there
are,
you
know,
numbers
from
1
000
to
3
thousand.
I
believe
today's
new
positives
and
with
hospitalizations
well,
you
know
reached
from
about
thousand
in
you
know
this
mid
december
to
over
thirteen
hundred
hospitalizations
are
in
looking
at
our
hospitalizations
to
our
major
hospitals.
B
B
Well,
you
know
again
back
the
vaccination
and
that
effort
may
drop
these
numbers.
Who
knows
whether
to
be
in
june?
You
know
I
don't
expect
anything
to
to
come
in
in
a
favorable
way,
a
downward
trend
that
would
allow
us
to
gather
these.
You
know
hundreds
of
thousands
of
people
in
a
you
know
a
super
spread
kind
of
event
and
that's
the
main
thing
that
that
drove
us.
We
just
can't
do
that.
You
know,
as
as
the
vaccines
you
know
and
the
herd
of
immunity
grows,
then
then
we'll
look
at
that.
B
But
at
this
point
in
time
it's
we
haven't
reached
the
peak.
Yet
we're
getting
ready
to
have
a
you
know
another
wave
because
of
christmas
gatherings,
and
now
new
year's
eve
and
the
governor
has
extended
and
remind
everyone
you
know
of
his
executive
order
on
on
alcohol
sales
as
well
as
mask
and-
and
I
think
all
the
two
counties
in
mississippi
have
the
order
to
mask
up
so
there's
a
lot
of
things
that
need
to
change.
B
But
you
know
I
pay
attention
to
hospitalizations
and
you
know
early
on
in
this
in
march
and
when
things
were
really
happening
we
were
hopeful
of
the
june
in
july
time
frame,
but
you
know
it
a
couple.
Events
like
you
know
memorial
day
weekend
started
another
wave
and
then
you
know
the
fourth
of
july
and
all
these
gathering
points
have
indicated
you
can't
bring
everybody
together
and
not
have
an
impact
to
this
corona
again
like
a
tsunami,
it's
gonna
can't
change
it.
B
D
B
Well,
we're
going
to
look
at
the
opportunity
to
social
distance
and
do
it
safely
without
augment
becoming
a
super
spreader
event.
That's
what's
different.
This
is
these
are
the
two
most
significant
parades
on
the
coast.
You
know
with
the
most
history
and
the
most
you
know
fanfare
and
you
know
impact
to
the
celebration
of
mardi
gras.