BATON ROUGE - Cortana Kiwanis Christmas parade organizers say rising security costs forced the cancellation of what would have been the 75th anniversary of a parade that annually made its way through Baton Rouge to celebrate the holiday season.

Because the costs forced the Kiwanis to cancel, a group of local first responders decided to step in and provide their own parade on Dec. 14.

During the 2024 Christmas parade, violence interrupted the celebration. A shootout during the event left one woman injured, and multiple teenagers were arrested after a shootout during the event . That violence prompted more attention to security, and thus more expense.

This summer, the parade announced it wouldn’t roll, blaming the new, higher cost of police security as the primary factor.

“Historicall

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