Drive-by parades hoping to cheer up those with birthdays and frontline workers

Kaya Garvey-Parent had been planning her sweet 16 for months, but had to cancel all her plans after COVID-19 hit. So her mom still wanted to make her milestone birthday one to remember.

"We had to postpone it indefinitely, so in order to try to make her day special for her we tried to surprise her in a few different ways," said Kateri Garvey, Kaya's mom.

She started with porch drop offs and had some gifts arrive in the mail. Then about two days before Kaya's birthday she found a local Facebook group, Windsor birthday cruises and she signed up.

"I think it was very cool. I had no idea and I was really surprised," said Kaya.

Kateri said her daughter had tears in her eyes when she saw the outpouring of cheer. About 30 cars drove by on her birthday.

"One of the things that was pretty cool to see so many special and unique cars that came out as well," said Kateri. "Just the volume of people that were willing to do the cruise and honked their horns and waved for us."

The whole event has made Kaya's day extra special.

"I was just in awe," said Kaya. "It was just amazing."

But she still hopes to celebrate her birthday with friends, once the pandemic is over.

Cruise for a smile

Jeffrey Pellizzari is part of theWindsor birthday cruises Facebook group. They've been organizing birthday surprises for peoplewho are celebrating their birthdays at home this year.

"We're getting together and we're making a lot of kids happy that typically would be able to be with their friends and or family members atthis time," he said.

The drivers make sure to continue to physical distance and keep safe, while making people smile. He said the parade is important for the group because it means a lot to see the happy faces in a down time.

"They see all these nice cars honking the horn, cheering. Someone's there for them, someone's listening to them and someone's there to celebrate their birthday and that's what every kids wants," Pellizzari said.

The parade is free, but they took donations when they joined up with the Classic Cruise April 16, which was collecting money to help support frontline workers. He said they ended up with a couple hundred dollars.

The cruse has even made its way out to Essex and has helped celebrate the birthday ofmore than 20 families in the area.

"We've been doing about six to seven a day and we've been doing this for a whole week now. It's a lot of work," Pellizzari said. "It's a lot of time consuming work,but we're here to help out the neighbourhood."