July 4 parade cancelled

The annual July 4 parade in Niwot will not take place this year.

Members of the Niwot Community Association Board of Directors agreed at their June 3 meeting that proceeding with the parade "is just not feasible" in this era of the COVID-19 pandemic health restrictions. The NCA sponsors and organizes the annual parade.

"The committee has agreed that we are not able to hold the parade safely this year," said NCA events coordinator Kim Hawksworth. "We just don't think the risks can be reasonably managed."

The committee also agreed to not announce a parade grand marshal in 2020. "It just wouldn't have the same impact at all," said parade event co-chair Julie Breyer. "I don't think I'd want to be the grand marshal of a parade that never happened."

Some NCA members previously suggested honoring first responders this year, but board members agreed that they wanted to wait until COVID-19 health restrictions are lifted.

"We want to make a big deal about honoring first responders when we can really do it well," said board member Diane Zimmermann.

Clean Up Day

The NCA's annual Clean Up Day also may not be held in 2020. The event, normally held in May, has already been put on hold by the NCA, and coordinator Tom Sesnic said it would be "really difficult" to hold the event and follow all the COVID-19 safety protocols.

"Everyone working and attending would have to have masks and gloves, and we would need to provide appropriate sanitation," Sesnic said. "Maintaining social distancing would likely mean that people would have to unload their own items in order to maintain six-foot spacing. And we would have to slow our traffic flow to a trickle."

Sesnic added that he would not feel comfortable with having members of Boy Scout Troop 161 help with the cleanup operations as they usually do.

NCA board members agreed to put the cleanup day planning on hold until late summer or early fall and evaluate the pandemic situation at that time.

In other business, NCA members heard from Boulder County Commissioner District 2 Democratic candidates Marta Loachamin and Jonathon Singer.

Community activist Loachamin stressed her advocacy and involvement in pushing for more affordable housing and economic opportunities for Boulder County residents. Her priorities include good stewardship and allocating county resources for the benefit of all county residents, increasing communication and outreach to underrepresented groups in Boulder County, making sure that equity and inclusion and social justice are priorities for the county commissioners, and fighting climate change and managing its effect on Boulder County.

Singer, current state representative for House District 11, said one of the first bills he sponsored that became law enabled local improvement districts such as the Niwot LID to add additional commercial properties to the district when requested by the property owner and to use their funds to organize and manage public events. Singer said he favors asking voters whether to increase the number of county commissioners to five and to elect commissioners by district instead of at large.

He also said he favors a countywide solution to funding all county road repairs and rehabilitation. He would work to create more affordable housing and favors improving customer service at the county level and cuts to red tape.