Horse Trading Days parade canceled amid air quality concerns
Horse Trading Days organizers canceled the Round-Up Horse Parade planned for Thursday evening, July 16, amid concerns over air quality throughout Butler County.
The rest of this weekend’s events, including those scheduled today, were still scheduled as of shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday. Organizers said they would make decisions on a case-by-case basis throughout the rest of the event. The parade will not be rescheduled.
“We care about the safety and well being of all of the individuals and horses involved and believe that this is the best decision based on all of the current factors,” a post on the Zelienople Horse Trading Days Facebook page reads. “We’ll be ready to welcome the Round Up Horse Parade back to Zelie at the 63rd Annual Horse Trading Days!”
The cancellation comes as the air quality in Western Pennsylvania deteriorated to code purple Thursday afternoon, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Code purple signifies the air contains a “very unhealthy concentration” of particulate matter, which is formed by a combination of particles from wildfires in Canada and Minnesota and droplets in the air. It is in effect for Butler, Mercer, Lawrence, Venango, Clarion, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, McKean and Warren counties.
Other events scheduled for Horse Trading Days include craft and food vendors at Four Corners Park and along Main Street, free wagon rides, sidewalk sales, a used book sale and a petting zoo.
On Saturday, there is a Hot-to-Trot 5K scheduled for 8 a.m. and an HZ Jazz band performance scheduled for 5 p.m.
Those interested in the full schedule can check out the website at https://www.horsetradingdays.com/2026-schedule.
