Dalton BOH OKs Planning for Carnival, Memorial Day Parade
DALTON, Mass. — Two well-known town events will likely return in 2022 after two years of cancellation due to the pandemic.
The Board of Health on Monday said there are no current COVID-19 guidelines that prevent planning for the Dalton Carnival and the town's Memorial Day parade.
Both events will have to go before the Select Board for final approval.
Director of the Dalton Community Recreation Association Alison Peters — who is also a member of the Dalton Fair Association — said the planners understand that they have to be flexible because of the pandemic but are planning on the event running from June 1 to June 5 at the Dalton American Legion Post 155.
"We haven’t had (the carnival) for the last two years due to COVID and we feel like we're ready to bring it back now, given the climate," she said.
A document outlining the precautions that will be taken during the outdoor event was provided to the board.
"We will follow all the local recommendations, always encourage people to wear masks, we will have sanitation set up," Peters explained.
"Part of the carnival does incorporate local organizations, nonprofits putting up food booths, so they would all have to follow the very strict guidelines around COVID with the cleaning stations and the masks and gloves and those types of things, so whatever is being recommended at the time and of course the usual health inspections that always occur."
She also reported that the carnival company the town has worked with for more than 20 years is imposing vaccination mandates on its employees.
Health Agent Agnes Witkowski pointed out that if there was an outbreak of the virus, the board would have to reconvene and make the best choice for the safety of the community, as with any other event during the pandemic.
Carnival planners are understanding of this.
Post Commander Robert Dassat attended the meeting to express concern because the veterans had not yet received correspondence from the planners.
"I just wanted to bring it out so that somebody is aware the date for the carnival will have to be worked out with the Legion," he said,
"They used to always be, I know there hasn't been a carnival and our concern is we want to make sure that Board of Health is good with them having it and then we need to know dates, we have ballgames that take place in the back and different events of our own."
Dassat was assured that this is early-stage planning with the proposal going to the Select Board for approval and Dalton Fair Association member Daniel Downer, whom the Legion usually works with for the carnival, will be in contact for proper planning.
"We were just trying to do this to be proactive we haven’t talked to anybody about this yet, we were just trying to make sure that the town would be okay with us even doing it," Peters said.
"So this is kind of like an exploratory thing, we were trying to put the proposal together to make sure that the town was okay with us doing it."
The Dalton Memorial Day Parade was also given a formal vote of approval for May 30 per Dassat's request so that formal planning can ensue.
He offered to space out the people marching in the parade for COVID precaution and the board said it would be a good idea to do so.
The post commander and Memorial Day chairman for the town was honored as the Berkshire Veterans Coalition 2021 Veteran of the Year. Dassat organizes the parade and oversees the decoration of more than 1,000 veterans graves in the town and maintains the flags on them.
Select Board member John Boyle attended the meeting to speak in support of the parade.
"The parade is a much-missed event in the town of Dalton," he said. "Although it is, I hate to say this as a veteran, is scarcely attended but is spirited."
Boyle added that the Select Board fully supports the event and is looking forward to marching in it as they usually do.
Wahconah School Building Committee co-Chair Tom Callahan also spoke in support of the parade.
In other news, the board will also submit a letter of concern about an accessory dwelling unit bylaw proposal that stirred up concern during a public hearing last month.
The panel suggested that the minimum setback requirement should mirror standards regulations, it should require a special permit, the owner should be living in the main dwelling or ADU, and that the Board of Health is notified of any septic tanks that go through the Title 5 process.
Tags: BOH, carnival, parade,
