HELENA — UPDATE (MAY 12, 2020): Congratulations to the Vigilante Cruise Winners! You are all winners in our book, so see below for further information.
The top 5 were chosen by the residents of Touchmark and the following 11 were chosen based on effort and creativity. We have prizes for all registrations and their crew because everyone put in an effort to make this happen. see below for further info on how to claim!
Thanks again everyone for participating and we hope you all had a great time! Make sure to reach out to the sponsors of your gift cards or cash and thank them!
The numbers shown are the registration numbers; and have no bearing on the placement number. 😊
In order the top 5 winners were as voted by Touchmark Residents;
#21 - Carmen Porter; shipping off, IH Classic Truck
#43 - Shaun O'Brien, Jeffery Meyers, Ian Uland; BBQ
#4 & #22 - School Bus & Tour Train (most appreciated) Prize not given as it was not a HS student though we sure appreciate the entry and effort. Kids, please give a shout out to your school bus drivers! They love and miss you!
#19 - Emmalee Madden & Brinley Nielson; 1956 Chevy Belair
#26 - Ginny Kerr, Hannah Bowers, Regan Maronick, Ashlin Slanger ; Tiger King
#6 - Greer MacDonald & company; Gold Rush 2020
#10 - Greta McAlpin & company; Sky-Hi Drive In
#15 - Hannah Lenik & company; Travel Club
#23 - Lindsey Pankratz & Soren Beebe ; Giraffe
#27 - Josephine Trudeau, Abby Trevor, Sammie Plaster, Crystal Delude, Mady Grove, Camryn Nepine; Tiger King
#29 - Wes Bruski, Sami Elkins, Jasmine Hruska, Slayden Rasmussen, Reese Sheldaul
#41 - Trey Martin & Keaten Wallace; Just QT’d
#55 - McKoy Gebhardt; 1957 Ford
#56 - Kayla Tremmel; Tiger
#60 - Jessica Marsh & Logan Marsh; Card player
#48 Ethan Maxness and Company; Cool dudes
#39 Wyatt Robertson and Co; patriotic Jeep
THERE ARE MORE PRIZES FOR ALL THE OTHER ENTRIES. So, if you registered you have a prize.
If you cannot be at Tuesday's prize pickup, message Liane Taylor or Charlotte Snyder from the Facebook page, Vigilante Cruise 2020. If we don’t see you tomorrow or hear from, we will email you to pick up prizes!
ORIGINAL: This year’s Vigilante Day Parade was canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, not even a pandemic could prevent dozens of Helena teens from honoring the yearly tradition.
Helena High and Capital High students worked through a downpour Friday morning to get their vehicles ready for the 2020 Vigilante Cruise.
The citizen organized event allowed students to participate and honor the canceled parade while still social distancing.
Even through the rain, participating students had nothing but positive attitudes.
“I think it’s really cool, like I remember last year really wanting to do an actual vigilante float this year and we couldn’t because of the whole corona thing,” said Capitol High Junior Wes Bruski. “I heard about the cruise and though, ‘That’s a great idea!’ So I called up some friends of mine and we got this set up. It isn’t much but it’s a lot of fun.”
The cruise ran through Last Chance Gulch to 6th Ave., then past the Capitol Building to St. Peter’s Health. It ended with a drive by the Touchmark and Hunter’s Point retirement communities.
Most vehicles had signs celebrating the schools and students, with many decorations having a humorous theme.
Helena High students Greer MacDonald, Cassie Smith and Haliy Schmitt made a float called “Gold Rush 2020” that had them mining for toilet paper.
“I think we would have done a float if for the actual parade so being able to do something for the cruise is cool,” said MacDonald.
Many students participating said more than anything, it was just nice to do something to honor the tradition and celebrate the community and their schools.
“My Family has always gone to watch the parade,” said Carmen Porter, a Helena High Senior who will be joining the ARMY this summer. “We were pretty disappointed when we weren’t going to have it this year but it’s exciting we’re doing this.”
Jeff Meyer and Shaun O’Brien made a float celebrating the Helena High BBQ club.
“This is so fun. I’m so glad we could come out here and represent the BBQ club because it’s been a while,” said Meyer. “We want to dedicate this float to Mr. Thomas since he won’t be back at Helena High next year.”
“We’ve got a little bit of teacher appreciation stuff because we do miss our teachers a lot, even if people say they don’t,” added Bruski.
Organizers of the event say it was a whole community effort to pull off the Vigilante Cruise, and wanted to thank all the individuals and businesses that donated gift cards for the participating students.
People can watch the full Vigilante Cruise here:
