And now they're looking to bring even more joy to local residents.
After receiving feedback about the length of last weekend's event, organizer Jody Chell decided to break the parade into two separate routes in order to catch the close to 50 homes that had booked a drive-by this time around.
“The one team finished 20 minutes sooner than the other group, but we got it done in less than an hour and a half,” Chell said shortly after the event came to a conclusion. “I missed half the birthdays and my joy is seeing all the smiles on the kids faces, but when you have 50 people, we would have been out there a lot longer. So this is a lot more efficient and it's better for everyone, too.”
Drivers once again met in the Town 'n' Country Mall parking lot and followed the map pre-booked by members of the Moose Jaw Birthday Party Facebook page. In addition to the cavalcade of passenger vehicles, a handful of special vehicles came out for a drive this time around.
“A big pump truck, then the Bad Intentions bus and Deja Vu was with us again,” Chell said. “Then the second group was led by the Bounce-A-Lot Inflatables truck, so that went really, really well and we were really happy to see them come out.”
Another major difference was the amount of noise – participants were asked to hang back on the honking this time around, just to take a few decibels away from what was turning into a steady wall of sound.
“Watching the other videos from last weekend, nine minutes of cars honking is enough,” Chell said with a laugh. “But with 30 cars and not doing as much honking, it seemed a little less crazy and a little more organized.”
The best thing about it all? They aren't done yet.
Moose Jaw Birthday Party group member Kyla Duke has organized a tour of senior homes and to take place on Sunday afternoon, with participants meeting at 12 p.m. at the Alliance Church parking lot at the corner of 9th and Thatcher and departing around 12:15 p.m.
A map of the stops can be found on the Facebook page.
“She volunteered to organize this one, and it's going to be great,” Chell said. “We'll be touring seniors homes and essential workers, fire stations and EMS. Citizens All, the Bentley, the Mulberry. We'll be doing 20 tomorrow and the rest when she has it set up next weekend.”
Duke has even went so far as to contact the facilities to let the residents know and help them prepare for the parade.
“They're going to try and get their residents to windows and balconies or an area where they're safely able to see us,” Chell said. “I'm feeling emotional about this one already, so I'm really looking forward to it.”
Be sure to check out the Moose Jaw Birthday Parade Facebook page for plenty of more information, including video of the parades themselves.
