Sarah (left) and Bria Szell (right) pose on their family's driveway surrounded by birthday messages for Bria. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Legal street party

Friends creatively celebrate local teen’s birthday together, while staying apart

Mar 30, 2020 | 6:00 PM

Family and friends of a local high school student found a way to figuratively come together to give her a birthday surprise, despite social distancing protocols.

Sarah Szell, 19, organized around a dozen of her younger sister Bria’s loved ones to fill the family’s driveway with birthday messages written in chalk.

“Bria’s been cooped up inside forever,” Sarah told paNOW. “And she’s really missing her friends. I knew that they couldn’t come inside and have a birthday party so I decided to bring the birthday to her.”

Sarah wipes a tear from her sister’s eye. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

Although Bria had suspected something might be going on when her family refused to let her park in the driveway the night before, she was moved to tears when she saw the well-wishes for her 17th birthday.

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“I just thought that it was so sweet that my sister did that and that all my friends came and spent time out of their day to give me a happy birthday message when they couldn’t see me,” she explained.

Bria’s friends sanitized thier hands and tried to space their arrivals so they weren’t in the driveway at the same time. (submitted photo/Sarah Szell)

Several friends stuck around after writing their messages to watch Bria’s reaction from inside their respective cars parked across the street.

Bria said she had initially wanted to have a supper with friends to celebrate, but the surprise birthday chalk art was even better than her pre-pandemic plans.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom