Walsh cancels all large festivals and celebrations through Labor Day

Mayor Walsh announced today that "parades and festivals will not take place in the City of Boston this summer, up to and including Labor Day."

Left unanswered is what happens to the proposed running of the Boston Marathon on Sept. 14, the week after Labor Day.

In a statement, Walsh said:

While we're planning a healthy reopening and an equitable recovery process, I know this announcement will be disappointing to many residents and organizations that look forward to these events each year. This is a hard public health decision, but it's the right one. I encourage people to rethink their events, and thank them for their work to inspire us, and help our communities get through this difficult time.

The mayor added:

No event should be planned that would involve more than 10 people gathering or that could draw a crowd of any size.

Asked at his daily press briefing if he would agree with Walsh to ban all large events statewide, Gov. Charlie Baker would not agree to commit to such a move yet, but allowed it would be hard to enforce social distancing in "shoulder-to-shoulder mass-of-humanity events," so he has some discussing to do with his local colleagues.