Mayor Ron Serpico has cancelled the 2020 Taste of Melrose Park due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
We are concerned that this virus will not be abated by the dates of the Taste and the Mayor is concerned that a gathering of such a large group of people would pose a potential serious health risk.
Like our forefathers in World War II, Melrose Park residents of all races, ethnicities and religions have come together to fight a new common enemy, the Coronavirus. Today, our heroes are the doctors, nurses, scientists, first responders, postal workers and those in retail businesses who on a daily basis put their own lives at risk to treat, protect or work with people who could be carriers of this disease.
Almost as frightening as the disease itself, is not knowing when this will end, or how, or what we as a country and a community will look like when it does. Just as the Great Depression, World War II, the 1960’s, and 9/11 all changed America, so will Covid-19, which even in its short duration has taken a foothold and changed us already.
We now find purpose and pleasure in the simpler things, such as enjoying family dinners around the table, rediscovering long ago pleasures like reading books, doing jigsaw puzzles, playing board games or just engaging in conversation. This is a time like no other, the distractions of our once normal everyday life have disappeared, affording us an opportunity to guiltlessly slow down and re-examine our priorities and rediscover what is really important, which for the majority of us will be family and home, which in a time of crisis is truly our safe haven.
The Coronavirus may have confined us to our homes, but it will never confine the American Dream of a better life for all.
There will be a day when America returns to normalcy and once again Melrose Park will be a community where one returns to a time when neighbors talked over the fence, moms watched out for each other’s children, and churches were central to family life…. And that day will be spectacular.
Sincerely,
Ronald M. Serpico Mayor of Melrose Park