A Parade Of Strangers Makes Romeoville Boy's Birthday Memorable

ROMEOVILLE, IL – For weeks, Kristine Beaman had planned for a memorable celebration for her son, Brighton. There would be balloons, cake and family to commemorate her baby’s first birthday and create a day Beaman's friends and loved ones would not soon forget. But when the coronavirus pandemic led Gov. J.B. Pritzker to issuing a shelter in place order more than a week ago across Illinois, Beaman realized the party she was so looking forward to would need to be canceled and a day that she was anticipating would be one likely now filled with sadness.

That changed on Sunday, though, when a parade of 40 decorated cars and trucks, including a firetruck and Romeoville emergency services vehicle made its way in front of Beaman's home, honking as Beaman and her son watched from their driveway. Beaman said she was contacted last week about whether she would be in favor of a parade after she had originally posted on a Romeoville residents Facebook page inquiring whether the local dollar store would be open so she could go purchase balloons to decorate her home.

That post led to the formation of another Facebook group, Romeoville Making Memories, which is now organizing birthday parties and other celebrations for local residents as the community continues to deal with a way of living brought on by the global pandemic.

And even when the steady flow of decorated vehicles she knew was coming began its procession by her home around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Beaman found herself in tears the entire time. As touched as she was that someone would organize such event, it became even more meaningful because of the fact Beaman knew no one in the parade.

“It was so overwhelming,” said Beaman, who captured the parade on her phone as the cars passed and as her sister stood across the street filming the parade on her phone to provide a different vantage point. “It was just very emotional for people who don’t even know us to do that.”

Beaman said that recent weeks have been difficult and "just terrible" as the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus have skyrocketed across the country. Like everyone else, Beaman's contact with friends and family members has been limited to video chats despite the fact she had originally planned to invite a host of family members over the party she had scheduled. Instead, knowing the party would be much intimate than she had planned, Beaman went out and purchased 40 helium balloons to decorate her house with and made a cake to make sure Brighton had something to remember on a day that ended with the glow stick bath.

After Sunday's festivities and the kindness of strangers, Beaman said Brighton's first birthday will be a day she will never forget.

“I was thinking (Sunday) was going to be a sad day,” she said. “Even though we did the balloons and had a cake, I thought, ‘OK, it’s just going to be pretty much a regular, normal day’, but the parade changed everything around. It completely blew us away.”