The city of Port Arthur will not have its annual Christmas parade Saturday due to a forecast of heavy rain.

The National Weather Service is predicting a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms Saturday night with wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

According to the Weather Service, starting Saturday night there is a marginal risk for severe thunderstorms along and ahead of a Pacific cold front. One to three inches of rain is expected.

Port Arthur’s parade was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with lineup at 5 p.m.

Mayor Deloris “Bobbie” Prince said the city regrets having to cancel the holiday parade without rescheduling it, but because school children would be out of class next week there was no guarantee the bands would have enough members to participate at a later date.

“Let’s face it, if you don’t have the bands, you won’t have much of a parade,” Prince said.

With Saturday’s forecast of rain, Prince said it would not be right to ask people to come out in possibly severe weather.

“I cannot recall since we started having the parade ever having to cancel it. We’ve had it in cold, and even sleet, but this is the first time heavy rain is in the forecast,” she said. “We do regret it because a lot a people look forward to that each year.”