Fred Loya family cancels El Paso Christmas Lights Show due to pandemic concerns

EL PASO, Texas -- It’s a Christmas spectacle that draws tens of thousands over the holiday season to the upscale Los Paseos neighborhood in east El Paso every year.

But this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fred Loya family announced Friday that it would unfortunately forgo its annual El Paso Christmas Lights Show.

"It is with heavy hearts that we announce the El Paso Christmas Light Show is officially cancelled for this year due to safety concerns caused by the Covid-19 virus,” the Loya family said in a letter to the community posted to social media. "After consulting with representatives from the El Paso Health Department we unanimously agreed that the only responsible option was to cancel the 2020 edition of the El Paso Christmas Lights.”

The letter continued: “While we treasure the Light Show and the annual tradition it represents, we simply cannot put our friends, families and community at risk. We hope that this difficult decision may serve as a positive example to other organizations who may be currently struggling with the same deliberations.”

The entire letter is below.