Derby Night Lights, one of August’s biggest traditions, was canceled due to excessive heat, ending 17 straight years of the community event at Panther Stadium.
The event showcases football teams from second grade through middle school and high school. It serves as an opportunity for the community to see the players, teams and cheerleaders perform before the season starts on Sept. 1.
In addition to the event itself being canceled, seniors are going to have to miss out on leading the line, a treasured Derby tradition.
“I’m kind of sad it’s canceled because I’ve done it every year since middle school and I was excited to finally be able to lead a line as a senior,”senior Derek Hubbard said.
Some have waited their whole lives to be able to be a role model and lead the younger grades.
“It means a lot, you know I’ve been doing it since I was in second grade and this is the one year, my senior year, I can’t do it,” senior Braxton Clark said.
Not just the football players are missing out on this tradition, but also the band that plays at every game.
“I feel really shocked and a bit upset from a big event being canceled.” junior Paloma Gomez said.
Because of excessive heat forecasted for the original date of August 24, the event was forced to be canceled with no plan to reschedule.
“They call that the heat recommendation policy,” athletic director Russell Baldwin said. It’s a chart that tells us what we can do depending on the weather and relative humidity.”
Depending on what color range your district is in is the deciding factor in whether you can do outside activities or not.
“If you’re yellow, orange, red or black (based on temperature and humidity), then it tells you what you can do,” Baldwin said. “Once you’re in the black, you can’t do anything outside.”
Although Derby Night Lights has been a tradition for many years, coaches and administration did not want to risk the safety of the players and audience.
“So with that, we look at each day and this week we would be in the black. They had us in the black till 10PM Thursday night (the day of the event),” Baldwin said.
Not just the heat affected the players but also how the day was and how it looked.
“If we adjust now it can allow people to have practice in the morning, So (Coach Clark) decided to work through moving practice to Thursday and canceling Derby Night Lights,” Baldwin said.
