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The North Bay’s Families First fireworks display planned for New Year’s Eve over Thomson Park has been cancelled.
The decision comes as a result of reduced social gathering limits for indoor and outdoor settings and a rising number of cases of COVID-19 in the community and across the province, reads a release from the City of North Bay.
Effective December 19, Ontario reduced social gathering limits to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.
See related: COVID-19's Omicron surge prompts new restrictions, cancellations
See also: 9,418 new COVID-19 cases reported Monday
And: Ontario reports more than 10,000 daily cases of COVID-19 for the first time
The indoor activities traditionally held at Memorial Gardens and the YMCA had already been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic but the Families First organizers were hoping the fireworks display could still be held.
“The Families First Committee is disappointed we won’t be able to ring in 2022 as planned. We would like to thank the community for understanding the need at this time to avoid larger in-person gatherings,” said Chair Wendy Prieur.
People who were planning to watch the fireworks display had already been asked to be prepared to physically distance themselves if they chose to gather in one place but those limits have further been reduced due to provincial directives since that announcement.
