OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – In this unprecedented time, people have to get creative when it comes to birthday celebrations.
This year, Casey and Gabby’s birthday parties looked a bit different as it was done in a drive-through fashion with sirens and horns blaring.
“My favorite part was when I saw my teacher because I haven’t seen her in a really long time,” said 9-year-old Gabby Thomas.
The inspiration came from seeing others come up with similar ideas to replace birthday parties when both Gabby and Casey wondered what would happen to their plans this year.
“I mentioned Casey was kind of concerned about his birthday and how he was going to have a birthday party or anything like that and a friend of mine and a former teacher of his, Mona Goodall, said ‘let’s have a parade,’” said Casey’s mother, Pam Vance.
Once the Vance family decided that’s how they would celebrate Casey, they knew there was one little girl who shared his birthday that needed to get in on the fun.
“We are pretty close with Casey and his family,” said Brandy Thomas. “[Gabby] is a pretty special little girl. so I knew that no matter what we did she would love it.”
Dozens of members of the community showed up for the event, with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office leading the way.