GARDNER – Holiday shoppers will not have to pay to park downtown for the next few weeks. The City Council recently unanimously approved a measure to waive parking fees at metered locations in the downtown area until Thursday, Dec. 31, in order to promote local holiday shopping in the city. “We understand that many people in the downtown area have had a hard year business-wise with the pandemic and with all of the construction that happened we wanted to be able to do something to make sure we were promoting our business community,” said Mayor Michael Nicholson at a signing ceremony outside of The Velvet Goose on Wednesday, Dec. 9.