MARION — The July 14 Selectmen’s meeting was historic both because it was the first in-person meeting in Marion since March, when coronavirus restrictions switched everything to teleconferencing and because the board said Town Party would be canceled for the second year in a row. 

Town Administrator Jay McGrail said that the Marion Town Party Committee tried to come up with ways to hold the Aug. 22 event, but the committee “could not find a scenario to make it work.”

McGrail added that he hopes the town can bring back the party in 2021.

The committee canceled last year’s Town Party due to the critical risk level of Eastern Equine Encephalitis. The mosquito-carried virus, has no cure, and is often fatal. A Rochester man who contracted the virus in 2019 was in the hospital for seven months. 

Going forward, Selectmen will hold meetings in the Marion Music Hall, and all boards and committees have the option to do so as well. 

A nine-person table will be set up with chairs six feet apart for committee members, and 16 chairs will be set up for audience members, plus standing room if necessary. McGrail said only one or two meetings will be held per day, and the building will be sanitized after they end.