DEMOPOLIS-The third annual Patriotic Parade, which is part of the Demopolis Freedom on the River Festival this weekend, was canceled Wednesday due to a lack of interest from the City of Demopolis.

The Chairman of Freedom on the River said due to lack of participation from the residents of Demopolis because a lot of them were already busy with vacations and other things the parade has been canceled, but everything else is going on as planned.

The Freedom on the River committee has decided to cancel the Patriotic Parade scheduled for Saturday, July 3, 2004. The parade was planned for 10 a.m. and was to run down Main Ave. from the Old School to the City Landing Ballfield.

“We hate to cancel any activities taking place during the festival; however, due to lack of interest we thought it better to cancel now than to have a poor turnout of participants and disappoint the crowd,” stated Gutshall,

“We are still anticipating great success for the other events over the weekend including the Best Burger on the River Competition and of course, the Fireworks Show!”

Kelley Smith, Events&Tourism Coordinator with the Demopolis Area Chamber of Commerce, echoed Gutshall’s regrets for canceling the Patriotic Parade. “This year held particularly great challenges for Freedom on the River in the way that the holiday fell over the weekend. We have had many groups and individuals that would normally participate in these types of events tell us that they would be vacationing over the long weekend and with school being out for the summer the bands, color guards and other groups were also unavailable.”

The schedule of events for Freedom on the River 2004 will now include the Best Burger on the River Competition on Saturday, July 3 beginning at 6 p.m. at the City Landing Ballfield. As part of that competition, the band Five Shades Red will be performing from 6 – 8 p.m. followed by the group Standard Candle from 8-12 p.m. Rounding out activities for this event will be food vendors and children’s activity vendors. On Sunday, July 4 the festivities will begin at 6 p.m. with the Children’s Parade from Bluff Hall to the City Landing. Other events for that night include children’s activities and food vendors with the Fireworks Extravaganza set to begin at 8:30 p.m.

For more information concerning Freedom on the River, please contact Smith with the Demopolis Area Chamber of Commerce at 334-289-0270.