ETHAN’S COOL BIRTHDAY CAR PARADE

By John Pacheco, Editor

All photos submitted.

Just because you’re in quarantine, doesn’t mean you can’t have creative fun. Especially if you have a little help from your friends.

For his ninth birthday, Ethan Farber’s mom, Devon, had planned to take him to a car show, but unfortunately everything had been cancelled because of the covid-19 shut down. Then she had a thought, why not bring the car show to Ethan?

“The power of social media can be so amazing right now!” Devon said. “I was brainstorming creative ways to celebrate Ethan’s ninth birthday during a quarantine and decided to seek the community’s help in asking if a couple of cool cars could drive by and wish him a happy birthday.  I posted a request on Nextdoor to see if a few people with sports or unusual cars would be willing to drive by and wave ‘hi’ to Ethan for his birthday and surprise him. Well, the surprise was on me when I received an overwhelmingly positive response from over 90 drivers of amazing cars willing to participate in the drive-by parade.”

Because of the unexpected large number of exotic, antique, and collector vehicles in the parade, Ethan’s mother decided to err on the side of safety and contact the Hays County Sheriff’s Office and North Hays County Fire/Rescue to make sure the parade was not a safety issue. To her surprise, both departments asked to participate in the parade.

“We could hear the roar of the exotic car engines and the sirens before the cars actually got here, and I could see the joy on Ethan’s face as he realized what was happening,” Devon said. “I had managed to keep it a secret from him most of the week, but finally told him what was going to happen just a few hours before the parade.”

Ethan has a strong growing interest in cars over the past year or so. “When he’s with me in the car, he’s always pointing out the cool cars to me—‘Mom, there’s a Porsche, or Mom, there’s a Tesla,” Devon said. “I’m usually too busy paying attention to traffic or the radio, but thanks to him I’m starting to spot the unusual cars as well.”

In the past, Ethan has received car books and car calendars as gifts, which have expanded his knowledge of sports cars and exotics. As the parade drove by, he could identify many of the vehicles.

Many of Ethan’s neighbors also enjoyed the parade. “As the number of cars in the birthday parade grew, we expanded the ‘parade route’ to go through four different neighborhoods,” Devon said. “The parade was a ripple of joy through our neighborhoods, as many people enjoyed the cars."

For a neighborhood video of the parade, visit: https://rb.gy/decsju .