SASKATOON -- Of all his birthday celebrations, Paul Carson’s 101st might be the most memorable.
“I never expected anything like this to happen. Who has that much time to waste on me? I thank them a million times,” Carson told CTV News.
Carson celebrated his birthday with a tour around Saskatoon Wednesday in a birthday parade. Parades have become a common way to mark occasions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event started on Haultain Avenue and Isabella Street in the Queen Elizabeth neighbourhood.
A parade of decorated vehicles honked as they passed his house on Wiggins Avenue then a horse drawn carriage pulled up and Paul got in.
He volunteers at the Western Development Museum painting and driving a horse drawn cart there. The crew from the museum helped to organize Wednesday’s festivities.
His daughter Sandra Burrows was part of the surprise and said it took a lot of secrecy to pull off.
She tried not to talk about the birthday at all for fear of slipping up about the surprise.
“Dad came upstairs in sweats and t-shirt just before the scheduled parade and I said you have to get dressed. He said, why do I have to be dressed now?”
Burrows had to make up a fib on the spot and told her dad he was being taken for coffee
It all worked out and the birthday boy was overwhelmed with the whole production.
Carson has been cooped up at home since early April because of COVID-19 so having all the supporters come out to wish him well meant a lot.
“You can’t even talk to a neighbor across the street unless you holler to each other. You can’t even have a social talk with them.”
