Quake Rains on Parade for Chamber of Commerce : Chatsworth: The annual holiday event lacks volunteers because many are still rebuilding.

The Northridge earthquake has claimed another victim: the Chatsworth Holiday Parade.

The Chatsworth Chamber of Commerce, which has organized the annual event, has been unable to find enough volunteers to stage the parade, said Bill Powers, the chamber’s president.

Many of the dozens of business people who normally volunteer their time have been busy trying to recover from the earthquake, said Powers. The chamber has lost about 200 members since the earthquake.

“This is a community that has been devastated,” Powers said.

At last count, three parade volunteers had signed up, he said.

It takes about 60 volunteers, donating 30 hours each, to organize the parade, a 13-year tradition held on the second Sunday in December.

Doris Potvin, who has chaired or co-chaired the event for the past five years, said some of the businesses that donated money last year indicated they could not do so this year.

“There are no funds,” she said. “There is no committee.”

Donna Afflerbach, corresponding secretary for the Chatsworth Coordinating Council, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding community organizations, said she heard about the chamber’s difficulties in early September. The chamber asked the council to help, Afflerbach said.

“As the board, we just felt it was too late,” she said.

“Things were such in our own organization that there wouldn’t be enough people in our own organization to get the people together we need.”

The earthquake threw the entire process into disarray, say those involved.

“Normally we have our first meeting in March. We never even had an actual meeting this year,” said John Thorpe, who has been a parade volunteer for several years.

Powers said he hopes the community can organize an alternative event on a much smaller scale, but Afflerbach said it was unclear whether even that would occur.

“It’s not a definite thing yet,” she said. “We have not even discussed it, and we are running out of time. It takes four to six weeks to get flyers printed. It may also be too late to recruit groups that would want to get involved.”

In any case, Powers said, the chamber plans to resume the parade next year.

“It isn’t over; we’re taking a break this year,” he said.

“We have every intention of trying to put it together again next year.”