It’s the Holiday Season, and it’s Parade Season around the area … the annual Sebring Downtown Christmas Parade is tonight at 7, beginning on the Parkway, up North Ridgewood, around the Circle and down South Commerce in Downtown Sebring. If that’s not enough for you, a short drive in either of two directions can get you to a parade tomorrow night as well – both Frostproof and Wauchula plan parades tomorrow night. Lake Placid’s annual parade is next Saturday, as is the annual Lake Jackson Boat Parade.
Applications for funds in the Phase III edition of the Florida CARES money for Highlands County residents, businesses, organizations and nonprofits will be accepted online beginning at noon Monday. If you were impacted negatively by the Covid 19 pandemic, you’ll have only 24 hours to submit your application, till noon Tuesday. The County suggests you have documents proving a loss and be ready to submit digital copies online at the time you apply. Details of the categories of grants available are online now at HighlandsCares.com. Again, the window opens for 24 hours at noon Monday.
Florida passed a dubious milestone earlier this week when we crossed the million mark in confirmed cases of the Coronavirus in the state. Here in Highlands County, as of yesterday afternoon’s count we’d added 241 new cases since Thanksgiving, and six more deaths here. Our positive rate from tests has gone down a bit in the last couple weeks but it’s still over the 10% positive rate taken across a full week’s testing. 57 of our neighbors were hospitalized with the virus as of last night – 24 in the Intensive Care Units of the county’s three hospitals.
The Annual Circle the Circle with Cans returns to Sebring’s Downtown Circle today. Local Rotarians and Salvation Army volunteers will be stationed on and around the Sebring Circle asking for donations of food and cash to the Army beginning at 7am and running through 3pm this afternoon.