Sunbeams and a rainbow sign set the scene on Sunday as a Tewksbury boy waited in his yard for a big surprise.

“Auntie, she called a few friends and they’re going to have a birthday parade for you,” Erin Boudreau told her son, Walker, who whipped his head toward the road where a line of over 45 cars drove by yelling out their windows.

“Look at this, holy moly,” she said in a recording of the socially distant celebration posted to Facebook.

Her son, who just turned 8, leaned back and laughed hysterically.

Boudreau told WCVB 5 News that with her son being immunocompromised — his body doesn’t produce enough immunoglobulin G, which helps prevent infections — and the COVID-19 pandemic, they had to cancel his planned party.


So his family and friends brought the festivities to him.

First in line was a Tewksbury fire truck, which honked twice and rang a few bells, leaving Walker in a fit of giggles on his lawn.

The next car sported gobs of blue-and-red balloons and a couple birthday signs, with passengers waving out the windows.

Many vehicles followed suit with streamers, balloons, signs, people waving, and one car that even fired off a party popper, coating the street with confetti.

To top things off, four Tewksbury police cars trailed behind the parade with their sirens on and officers waving.

“Okay, I think they overdid it,” Walker said in the video while grinning ear-to-ear.

Police posted photos to Facebook, too, saying they were glad to take part in the celebrations.

“Thanks everyone for coming to Walker’s birthday parade,” Boudreau said in her post. “I am so overwhelmed by the love for our guy.”