Autism Center students present holiday parade

ROANOKE CO., Va. (WDBJ) - What started as way to celebrate Thanksgiving during the pandemic returned for an encore Tuesday.

Students at the Blue Ridge Autism and Achievement Center in Roanoke Co. presented their own holiday event, inspired by the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

They’ve been working on their floats for the last couple weeks, and Tuesday afternoon they paraded through the parking lot as family and friends cheered them on.

Leslie Painter is Administrative Director of the Blue Ridge Autism and Achievement Center.

“Thanksgiving comes around every year, and you always want to see Santa and kids dressed up, and we always want to give back to the community and we thought this is a great way to do it,” Painter told WDBJ7. “These are amazing kids and they can do anything and everything other children can do. And so I think today proved it.”

This was the second year the center organized the holiday parade, and BRAAC hopes to make it an annual event.

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