City scraps plans for July 4th celebration as COVID surges and Gov. Abbott dials back openings.

By SARA VANDEN BERGE

City officials made the tough decision Friday to cancel the Fourth of July plans in downtown Stephenville as new cases of COVID continued to surge across the state.

In a special meeting Friday evening, the Stephenville City Council voted to cancel the parade, concert, park activities and fireworks until Labor Day weekend.

Earlier in the day, Gov. Greg Abbott closed bars across Texas and scaled back restaurant occupancy to 50 percent.

Erath County saw 16 additional positive cases of COVID on Friday, and 15 more on Saturday bringing the total to 135 since the pandemic began.