COLONIE — If nothing else, COVID taught us to improvise. That lesson was put to the test on Wednesday evening during the Bison Blowup Bonanza hosted by the Shaker High Student Government.
In normal years, large blowups of Santa (black and white), elves, snowmen, the Grinch and other Christmas characters — with a few cartoon characters thrown into the mix — are kept inside the high school. This year, the student government group opted to move it outside to give the community something to do during the holiday season.
“We wanted to do something fun for the community. We usually put all our blowups inside and it is only for the high school students but we decided to move it outside so everyone would have something do to,” said Shannon Lipscomb, a member of the student government. “And everyone is nice and safe, they can stay in their cars and we are having a lot of fun doing it.”
First, the challenge was moving all the inflatables outside and then Mother Nature chose to an inopportune time to not cooperate. For starters it was frigid. And strong, gusty winds blew through the Shaker complex forcing the students to weigh down the blowups, tie them off to a fence or other structures or just hang on tight as hundreds of cars loaded with Shaker families drove through to enjoy the spectacle.
At the end of a parade, the students collected food items or monetary donations to benefit the Shaker Food Pantry.
“We haven’t done any events in the last six months because of the virus so in the first meeting of the school year we were trying to think of things to do that was safe for the community so I brought up a drive through light show and it transformed into a blow up bonanza,” said Gavin Gilooly, an ambassador with the Shaker Student Government. “It’s the holidays and people can’t go anywhere so it is important to show everyone we are all in this together.”
Click on a photo below to view a slideshow of the rest.
