Neighbors celebrate 4-year-old's birthday with parade after coronavirus cancels party

BECKER, Minn. (FOX 9) - After a Becker, Minnesota girl’s 4th birthday party was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak, neighbors put on a parade Saturday to help her celebrate instead. 

Amy Drehmel told FOX 9 her daughter, Elly, had been talking about her birthday party for weeks and, despite her parents trying to explain why her friends could not come over anymore due to social distance guidelines, she did not understand that it was not going to happen. 

The party was supposed to start at 2 p.m. on Saturday. So, at the suggestion of one of her other daughters, Amy posted to their neighborhood’s Facebook group asking people to come by their house at that time to wave to Elly and wish her happy birthday. 

Amy said she thought a few people they knew might drive by. Instead, it turned into an all-out parade.  

Neighbors drove by all day, up until 7 p.m. They had decked out their cars, were wearing costumes and were playing music and honking. Some even dropped off presents for Elly. 

“It was awesome to see our community together in the midst of this icky thing,” Amy said.