Photo: Facebook / Kassey Zatko 

By Shane Clausing

birthday parades

Grande Prairie neighbourhoods organizing ‘birthday parades’ for kids amid physical distancing mandates

Apr 5, 2020 | 5:00 AM

Neighbourhoods around Grande Prairie are coming together during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has forced many people to change their day-to-day routines. It’s had a big effect on children as schools, rec centers, and playgrounds have been closed, forcing kids to stay inside throughout the day.

All of these changes have meant many kids aren’t able to get together with friends to celebrate their birthdays as they typically would.

To help try and find ways to make the big day special, many neighbourhoods and communities in the region have created Facebook groups to connect with other members within their area.

Last week, Heather Fedorick, a resident of the Whispiring Ridge, and a couple of other members in her neighbourhood wanted to do something for children in the area that were missing their birthday parties because of the lockdown.

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“When everything shutdown we realized that there was no way our girl is going to be getting her birthday party. They cancelled her babysitters course between that and all of the sports, it was a lot of disappointment for kids,” explained Fedorick.

Fedorick and a couple of others knew of kids in the area celebrating birthday’s last week, so they discussed the idea of having a parade.

“At the time people had started doing something different in their window each week. Just before St. Patricks Day, I remember we walked around and counted all the shamrocks in each house’s window. Then I thought what if we did signs for the kids’ birthday?’ What if we put up birthday messages for these kids so when you’re walking around you could see all these signs?” said Fedorick

The call to action for the parade was posted in the Facebook group and was a success.

Over a dozen vehicles met up at the Grande Prairie Alliance Church and paraded down the nieghbourhood streets, honking their horns and wishing a happy birthday to kids celebrating in the area.

“Everybody honks their horns and slowly goes by, they holler out the window to wish the kids a happy birthday, it’s pretty cool,” said Fedorick.

Fedorick says the parades will continue.