The Edgerton Emergency Services Department is bringing the community together to celebrate Edgerton Public School grads.
The Public School’s in-person graduation was among several events that had to be put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department is responding by inviting the town to join in on a celebratory parade at noon on May 23rd.
Edgerton Fire Chief and Emergency Services Manager Jon Koroluk says his team was inspired by videos from another fire department doing a similar concept and ran with it in the village.
“At a time where we felt the graduates should have been celebrating their accomplishments, we felt it important to the community to celebrate with them.”
The department is urging residents to follow along with their parade rules in order to make the event a success, and follow all physical distancing guidelines.
People wanting to view or take part in the parade as supporters should meet at the Edgerton Curling Rink at 11:30 day of.
Only graduating kids should meet at the school, where their rides will be staggered to comply with physical distancing, keeping the bus loop open. Graduates will be physically spaced out to also follow these guidelines. Then, the Emergency Department will lead the vehicle parade. People are encouraged to honk, holler and make noise for the class of 2020.
Residents are also told, however, to resist leaving their vehicles to handshake or hug grads so that health guidelines can be met and reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the village.
Koroluk says the Emergency department is excited to see the community come out to cheer on the grads, even in this different way.
“When there’s something positive, where we can celebrate together as a community, turnout is usually fantastic. It’s an amazing, amazing community and the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child is very, very prevalent in Edgerton.”
Koroluk adds that the school will look at the possibility of another, physical graduation as public health restrictions are lifted.