The residents of Dover will have a holiday parade after all, despite the town’s mayor originally canceling it.

Mayor James Dodd canceled the parade earlier this month citing a lack of manpower to pull it off. But there were some in the town who questioned the timing of the announcement – it came soon after Dodd lost his re-election big.

“People were upset about it because it occurred the last two years,” says Rev. Charles Perez with the First United Methodist Church.

Dodd declined to be interviewed for this story. But he and his administration deny that the cancellation had to do with politics. Dodd issued a statement, saying in part, “Last year the second parade was quite the undertaking and given our situation we thought it was best to focus all of our efforts on the tree lighting ceremony in Winter Wonderland."

But members of the community decided to get together to ensure that the parade will go on for the third year.

“Excited and hopeful and it’s wonderful to see us focusing on our humanities and the things that we have in common and not the things that separate us,” says Father Rod Perez-Vega.

Dozens of residents - lead by Rev. Perez and Father Perez-Vega - who run churches right across the street from one another, volunteered to help organize the parade.

“Just really grassroots and there's probably no fireworks, or lights, or anything spectacular, but the people of Dover will be there,” says Perez.

About 60 people showed up for a last-minute planning meeting on Sunday night. The volunteers included religious leaders, police representatives and town administrators.

The parade will be held in downtown Dover on Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. They will march toward the Winter Wonderland and the event will end with the annual tree lighting.