The City of Utica will not be hosting a Fourth of July parade or fireworks celebration this year.

Mayor Robert Palmieri says the decision was made after careful deliberations and communication with public health officials and event organizers, and a review of the recently announced state guidelines regarding fairs and festivals.

“We were hoping to host a parade and fireworks as in years past and waited as long as we could before making a final determination. We are certainly disappointed as this was a very difficult decision, but the health,well-being and safety of our residents is the most important priority,” said Palmieri.

He says the City is looking forward to hosting the parade and fireworks in 2022.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced guidelines for county fairs and local festivals throughout New York.

  • State Department of Health approval will be required for events with over 5,000 expected attendees.
  • County fairs and local festivals must ensure that the total number of attendees is limited so that six feet of distance can be maintained between individuals who are not members of the same party, unless all attendees present proof of full vaccination status.
  • Fairs and festivals may require masks for all attendees, and per CDC guidance masks are required for non vaccinated attendees in certain settings, and indoors where vaccination status is unknown.

"Fairs and festivals are huge economic generators for communities across the state, and last year they were all put on hold due to the COVID pandemic," Cuomo said. "As more New Yorkers get vaccinated and we continue to keep the positivity and hospitalization rates down, we are readjusting our reopening strategy and allowing more events and attractions to resume.”

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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