How do you tell an almost 8-year-old that he will not be able to have a birthday party?

His friends won’t even be able to come over because of social distancing. This is what Candace Phillips in Tarkio was facing. Her son, Rowan Phillips, is completing the first grade through home-schooling like everyone else.

All of his old friends and the new friends he made from Superior Elementary School would be more than excited to help him celebrate as boys that age are cake-eating, transformer lovin’, “Girls are Yucky” party dudes!

The message she had for him was not going to be pretty, but she didn’t know the day was still going to be special for her son.

Across the country a movement has been taking place for the no-birthday-party victims in rural America due to COVID-19.

“This is our first one,” said Calvin Berry with the Superior Volunteer Fire Department. “But we’ll do this or help set it up for any of the kids in Mineral County while this shelter in place is going on.”

First responders have taken the lead, again, in doing whatever they can for their communities at a time when the norm, is not normal.

If not in service at the designated time, fire departments, highway patrol, sheriff deputies, ambulance services, quick response units and any other emergency services that has a vehicle that makes noise are invited to participate in an uncommon procession.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, April 2 at Exit 61 off Interstate-90, five spit and polished volunteer firemen in their freshly starched Class A uniforms and one emergency medical technician gathered in five rigs from the Superior VFD. The chrome on their vehicles was blinding while the immaculate candy apple red vehicles lined up in order.

Five hundred yards away, Candace, Rowan and a giddy group of family who have all been in isolation together since mid-March were standing at their driveway entrance when the parade began moving toward them.

Emergency lighting at full tilt with ear piercing sirens blaring, they drove by the group all waving to each other while hooting and hollering from everyone on the Tarkio Loop Road.

“That was cool!” Rowan said with a big grin.

It was over in two minutes, but yet, a unique memory was permanently imprinted when Rowan remembers the year that was different, for some reason, on his birthday.

A Frisbee inside a blue bag with that was presented by Berry at the end was tossed to a cousin as the group started home down the driveway.

Cake and ice cream next year, Rowan.