For Carson Horlacher, this year’s birthday will be one he never forgets, as over 200 kids showed up to celebrate his big day over the weekend. 

It all started when Carson first planned out his birthday party last month. He made cards and invited his classmates. However, only one classmate responded, who said they were not able to attend.  

Carson’s dad, Dustin Horlacher, was very upset at the low turnout for his son's birthday. 

As a way to vent his own frustrations, Carson's father posted about the disappointing experience on a local Facebook group. What he didn't expect was the overwhelming outpouring of support for Carson. 

The post took on a life of its own and local businesses began to pitch in to help make his birthday more memorable. 

Carson had a huge birthday celebration on July 31.   

Carson's dad says it was great to see everybody attend the celebration and make the day special. 

“We had a pretty good turnout, 200 kids ended up showing up. There were lots of people running around, lots of kids having fun, I got to meet a ton of parents and we had a great time.” 

Carson

Horlacher says the day turned out to be pretty busy for Carson and himself. 

“They just played for the first little while, then people started coming in and coming up to Carson and I and introducing themselves and saying hi while dropping off some birthday presents. Closer to lunchtime, when we had the most people, we had 200 cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday before opening some presents.” 

With the large birthday party, Carson made a lot of friends. 

“We exchanged numbers with a few families there. We met quite a few great kids and great families that we really connected with. He's got a circle of friends now that we can go and play with and go meet at the park. That's something I don't think he's ever had, definitely not in the last couple of years.” 

The party even had a silent auction that ran throughout the day. 

Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@discoverairdrie.com      

Related Stories