Car parades help ease lockdown loneliness

MOSES LAKE — It’s no fun, no fun at all, to have a birthday in spring 2020, especially for children. The COVID-19 outbreak and the restrictions imposed to combat it mean that, among many other things, birthday parties aren’t happening.

That’s just one of many unpleasant side effects of the outbreak. Another is the isolation imposed on residents of extended-care facilities.

The nature of the coronavirus means visitors are prohibited, and the movement of residents is even more restricted than the general population.

Yeah, no fun at all.

But family, friends and sometimes even strangers have rallied to bring some cheer to these no-fun situations.

“We’re calling them birthday parades,” said Matt Johnson, president of the Sickboys Greaser Club, a car club from Moses Lake. The Sickboys started out focusing on 1950s cars, but they’ve since accepted cars and drivers from all eras, Johnson said.

Car clubs in Moses Lake and Ephrata, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and the Moses Lake Fire Department are among the groups that have participated in birthday parades.

Individual families have done their own.

The Sickboys did a parade for a boy whose mother is working out of town and who is living with his grandparents in the meantime. The GCSO has done parades for kids, said GCSO public information officer Kyle Foreman, and the kids have been excited to see the police vehicles and the officers waving at them.

“There are a few adults that don’t mind it either,” Foreman said.

The current situation makes some celebrations impossible, Foreman said. “We’re just helping people to have that celebration, but at a safe distance.”

The Sickboys’ last birthday parade did double duty — an exciting day for the son of a club member, and a chance to cheer up residents of some extended-care facilities.

The procession was organized for a 7-year-old named Jude, whose father is in the club. The announcement caught the attention of Moses Lake resident Theresa Harrington, and it sparked an idea.

She asked the Sickboys if they would be willing to cruise the parking lots of some Moses Lake extended-care facilities. She phrased it as, “Can I borrow your parade?”

“They’re having a tough time in there,” she said of the extended-care facilities’ residents, with movement and visitation severely restricted. Under the circumstances, she thought a parade of cool cars might be welcome.

The car club members thought so too.

“He (Johnson) had talked to his group, and they would be happy, they would be honored to continue the cruise to those homes,” Harrington said.

“We were more than willing to help out,” Johnson said.

And it wasn’t just the Sickboys — members of the Moses Lake Classic Car Club were ready to go for a spin.

“We had zero problems getting people there,” Harrington said.

The final parade consisted of about 70 cars, including at least one unaffiliated driver who saw what was happening and joined in. There were cars from the 1930s through the 1950s and some GCSO patrol vehicles (Jude’s mom works at the police dispatch center, Johnson said).

“And there were seven (motorcycles) and one really crazy jeep,” Harrington said.

And as far as Jude was concerned, the parade was a rousing success.

“He was just so happy,” Harrington said.

The cruise around the nursing homes was a success too.

“It was pretty cool to see how into it some of them were,” Johnson said.

It was, Harrington said, a good day in a challenging time.

“It was the first time I’ve driven around and seen nothing but smiles.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].