A group of volunteers has started organizing private parades to celebrate the birthdays of Clinton and Camanche residents who can’t have a crowd for a party in these pandemic times.
As you might suspect, kids have been a primary beneficiary of these birthday motorcades. One of the participants is Jackie Armstrong — who likes to be known as “Twinkie the Balloon Twister.
“I’m kind of always the last car in line,” Armstrong says. “I give out a balloon and some other things that were donated from some of our residents.”
Toni Howes of Camanche came up with the idea. She says the parades usually have a police escort.
“They’ve been really great at coming along and being involved,” she says. “We just go by. We honk. We wave.”
This birthday parade team started with about one parade a day, but requests started accelerating. This past Sunday, they had 13 in the two cities. People who want to be part of a parade entourage must sign up in order to line up. One recent parade had more than 50 vehicles. Another had people in the back of a truck playing band instruments.
(By Dave Vickers, KROS, Clinton)