After the mayor declared a disaster in the city of Leavenworth due to record-breaking snowfall, members of the National Guard are arriving to help Monday.
Leavenworth mayor explains letter comparing COVID to racism
The Village of Lights in Leavenworth runs through Valentine s Day. (Nicole Jennings/KIRO Radio)
While researching the mayor’s decision to change Leavenworth’s lighting celebration this year, Dori discovered that Mayor Carl Florea wrote a controversial email last year that compares COVID to racism.
“In truth, this is a disease in which all of us who are white are carriers. We all spread it, most often unwittingly, (I would hope), but at times very blatantly,” Mayor Florea wrote in his letter to Leavenworth residents. “I can’t imagine what it would be like every time you walk or jog in public to be accompanied by fear.” Read more.
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Leavenworth Mayor Carl Florea says that this year, the “capital of Christmas” isn t doing any of the usual characters, festivals, open fire pits or even the famous tree lighting.
“The only thing left that basically says we’re a Christmas town is that the trees in our park are still lit up with lights,” he says.
Even so, thousands are flocking to the Bavarian-themed town in central Washington. He says nearly 70% of Leavenworth merchants’ income comes in these few holiday weeks.
Crowds of visitors are key to Leavenworth’s economic survival.
And Florea says attendance has been about the same as a normal year about 10,000 people each weekend night.