The Fourth of July in downtown St. Louis will be different next year.
Leaders of Celebrate St. Louis, which has sponsored the annual parade, announced Thursday that the parade won't be held in July. Instead, the organization is moving the parade to an undetermined date in the fall.
To celebrate the nation's independence, the organization plans a two-day event at Gateway Arch National Park. It will include fireworks, live music and food vendors.
“We are thrilled to reimagine our events to better serve our community while honoring the traditions that make St. Louis a better place for all,” Celebrate St. Louis leaders said in a statement.
The parade began in 1878 and was originally held during the fall. The parade, formerly known as the VP Fair and Fair St. Louis, began as the Veiled Prophet parade. Parade organizers moved the parade over the Fourth of July holiday in the 1980s.
VP St. Louis has faced criticism over the years due to its secretive nature. The organization has ties to some of the most powerful families in the St. Louis area and was founded as a whites-only club before accepting its first Black and Jewish members in the 1970s.
The parade is one of two high-profile events VP St. Louis puts on each year. The organization holds a winter debutante ball in which the veiled prophet, the masked figurehead and namesake of its secret society, has greeted debutantes as a part of a long-running tradition.
VP St. Louis confirmed to St. Louis Public Radio earlier this year that the veiled prophet was not at the parade in 2019 and has announced that the veiled prophet is no longer present at its December ball.
The parade has brought in organizations and high school marching bands for years. Tax forms submitted by VP St. Louis in 2022 showed the organization spent about $850,000 to put on the parade and about $880,000 to run its debutante ball.
VP will continue many Fourth of July traditions, including a fireworks display, a spokesperson for Mayor Tishaura Jones said.
