RCMP along with around 25 other vehicles put on a birthday parade to help celebrate Cadence Flaata's 15th birthday. (submitted photo/Darren Flaata)

By Angie Rolheiser

Birthday parade

Mounties in Melfort celebrate local teen’s birthday with parade

Apr 20, 2020 | 11:07 AM

Melfort RCMP members, Melfort ambulance staff, friends and family all joined in a parade to brighten the birthday of a local girl with cerebral palsy.

Cadence Flaata was housebound for her 15 birthday to due the COVID-19 pandemic but her day was still made special.

Darren Flaata, Cadence’s father, said having the RCMP go by the house just for her was amazing.

“Just over five years ago, she got to spend a day with RCMP as an honorary sergeant and it’s just escalated from there. She has been to the legislative building in Regina, she’s got a full red serge and we just finished her bedroom in RCMP colours,” Flaata said. “What happened yesterday was kind of like the icing on the cake.”

Cadence Flaata recently had her bedroom painted in RCMP colours. (submitted photo/Darren Flaata)

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A family friend and former educational assistant of Cadence, Tami Simms organized the parade.

“It has always been her goal to be a police officer when she grows up and then when she had her room painted in the RCMP colours, it hit me that since we can’t have a birthday party this year so it just seemed like the logical thing for her,” Simms said.

Simms has been involved with Cadence since her daycare days in the early entrance program and then continued on with her from kindergarten to Grade 6. When Cadence moved on to the high school, Simms became her caregiver over the summer and school holidays.

“I just think it was the greatest thing to see so many people come out, I think we all needed something like that right now and the parade just made everything a little bit brighter which Cady does for everybody,” Simms said.

Around 25 vehicles were part of the parade with friends and family holding up signs and honking horns for the birthday girl. RCMP then pulled up to the house and offered their personal birthday greetings, and also presented Cadence with the Melfort detachment challenge coin.

“The RCMP just stepped right up and I cannot thank them enough. It was just incredible,” Simms said. “Cady’s giggles in the video that her parents took as vehicles went by made it all worth while.”

“It meant a lot to Cadence and a lot to us too so I want to thank everyone that made it happen,” Flaata said.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser