Birthdays have become a community-wide celebration in Turner Valley after a parade of vehicles put tears in the eyes of a 10-year-old girl last weekend.
Mandi Piraux put a call out to friends to help her make daughter Annabelle’s birthday special by driving by their home on April 4. At 11 a.m., a parade of vehicles drew the attention of the entire street as people honked and sang Happy Birthday to the young girl.
“We were all crying, it was pretty overwhelming,” said Piraux. “We live in a pretty tight community and the people here are pretty awesome so they don’t mind going the extra mile to make the kids feel happy.”
It was an unexpected surprise for Annabelle, whose sister invited her outside to play just before 11 a.m. on Saturday.
“All of a sudden I started hearing music and I saw all these cars coming,” Annabelle said. “They went around a second time and then they sang Happy Birthday and the third time we had this big dance party. I cried 17 times, like actual bawling.”
The vehicles were decked out in balloons and signs. Annabelle’s friends waved and shouted out well wishes.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the best birthday ever,’” said Annabelle. “It makes me feel really special and loved.”
When Piraux's friend Shauna Way put pictures of the parade on Facebook, people started asking Way if she could arrange a parade for their children’s upcoming birthdays.
Way, who implemented the Neighbourhood Window Walk in her Country Meadows subdivision last month to brighten the moods of people self-isolating and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, created a Facebook site inviting people to hop on board the birthday parade phenomenon.
“I opened it up to everybody and it’s been a real chain reaction,” she said. “The ones who we went to their house now want to be part of the parade.”
Way, especially, stands out in her green Volkswagon Beetle, which is decked out in birthday banners and balloons.
“It’s been so empowering, even for my own children,” she said. “They get in the car and we just go. It’s incredibly rewarding.”
Word has spread fast.
Marlys Hall, an educational assistant at Turner Valley School, said when she called a few friends about her son Urijah turning eight on April 6, someone reached out to Way to organize a birthday parade for the young boy.
“They all got together and did this parade,” said Hall. “It started with one family who didn’t have a vehicle so they walked with balloons like a real parade. Then came vehicles all decked out. I was quite impressed.”
Hall saw Turner Valley School staff, including a teacher riding his bike, Mayor Barry Crane and a school bus.
“They sang Happy Birthday and a lady played Happy Birthday on the bagpipes,” said Hall. “We had 20 to 30 people drive by, if not more, with signs. The amount of love in this town is unreal.”
Urijah was ecstatic.
“My mom thought there was going to be one or two honks but there was like 100, 200 and 300 honks – so many people were honking,” he said. “This was probably my best birthday ever because so much people celebrated my birthday.”
After posting pictures on Facebook, Hall received several replies from neighbours thanking Urijah for having a birthday, with some saying they smiled for the first time in a long time.
“It was huge the amount of people messaging me to say thank you,” said Hall. “It was really heartwarming.”
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