Noah Lepage scaled a small snowbank and pointed excitedly to one of his neighbour's top windows. A banner reading 'Happy Birthday Noah!' was visible from the street.
"That's my name!" Noah shouted to his mom Christina Lepage, who smiled back at him on the family's walk around the Jacob's Close cul de sac in Jensen Lakes.
"How did they know today was your birthday?" she asked.
Noah's face lit up.
"Go look up at the window in the next house!"
Noah just turned four years old on March 20, but his birthday looked a little different this year. Following social distancing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Christina said the family had to make the difficult decision and cancel Noah's birthday party.
"I was feeling really sad because he was looking forward to spending time with his friends. We sort of explained to him that there's a really bad bug outside and everyone's staying inside," she said.
"Then I thought, I wonder if people would be willing to put up a happy birthday sign out in their windows?"
Houses in the neighbourhood had already done something similar with shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day for children in the neighborhood to look for, which Christina said Noah really enjoyed.
"He just loved going up and down the streets, looking in everyone's windows to see if they had a shamrock and counting them," she said.
Christina asked her neighbours in a Facebook group chat what they thought of the idea, and soon people flooded the post with messages saying they'd be happy to do it.
"I got so many responses. I've had other neighbours contact me saying they'll drop off a car on our front doorstep today. The overwhelming response has just been so unexpected."
Almost every house the family walked by had a sign posted for Noah in the window. One was hard to miss.
Jan Van Bruggen of Barricades and Signs, a traffic control shop in Sturgeon County, used an electric sign to wish Noah a happy birthday.
"I always loved construction stuff as a kid, and I thought if we put Happy Birthday on a message board in our driveway, he would think it was pretty cool. Just something to make his day extra special," Van Bruggen said.
One house had put out a present wrapped in Spiderman gift wrap, with a large fluorescent sign on the front door reading, 'Happy 4th Birthday Noah! Gift for you!' Noah danced a bit in the driveway as he went to go pick it up.
Happy birthday banners were hung from people's garages. Another sign wished him a happy birthday with a few pictures of yellow Minions on it – Noah's personal favourite, he said.
"We're going to have to write a lot of thank-you cards," Christina told Noah as they walked.
Noah said he was "happy" and "excited" to see all the signs wishing him a happy birthday.
"Thank you!" he said.
In a time of social isolation, it can be challenging to celebrate a child's birthday when physical interaction is so limited. Despite the negativity, anxiety and panic out there about COVID-19, actions like this show people still care about one another, and are willing to come together even while apart, Christina said.
"There's still that level of humanity out there. When you see people are willing to put other people's feelings first, and do this to make a little boy's day – it speaks volumes."
