No New Year's Eve party

The Odessa Chamber of Commerce has decided for a number of reasons to cancel its annual bash to ring in the new year. Some of those reasons include the fact that the holiday falls on a weekend, drawing more people away from town and off to larger venues elsewhere. Last year's event was also on a weekend, and the crowd was quite a bit smaller than it had been the previous year.

At the December meeting of the Chamber, there was discussion of getting started earlier on the planning and execution of the event, coming up with new ideas for activities to draw more people to it and so forth. Of course, similar ideas have been expressed in relation to another Odessa event that seems to creep up on us every fall.

If you plan to travel elsewhere, stay safe. If you stay home, have some friends or family over to toast the new year.