LAKELAND – Downtown's popular First Friday event series has been canceled through April in order to help bring the city's COVID-19 cases under control. Julie Townsend, executive director of the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority, said she made the tough call to cancel First Fridays for February and March. "We decided as it's a social event, primarily, it's one of those things we could do without," she said. "It's a hard decision because I know how important it is for our businesses." Townsend said she heard the pleas of local health officials asking Lakeland commissioner to take the virus seriously, as Polk's new cases and positivity rate surpassed the records set by July's surge. The number of COVID-19 patients requiring care was starting to put a strain on Lakeland Regional Health and Watson Clinic.