Elaine Gunderson/MDN A sign saying “We are all in this together” is on display in the I. Keating Furniture World window in Minot.

The I. Keating Furniture World chalk art van and about 40 cars filled with caring teachers drove through the Sunnyside Elementary neighborhood on Thursday.

Teachers had covered the van with messages and artwork showing how much they miss their students and cars had signs and messages on them too.

Bryan Kramer, a teacher at South Prairie, said the parade was bittersweet for his wife, Sunnyside fifth-grade teacher Cindy Kramer, who is retiring at the end of this year.

Classes were called off at schools across the state and teachers are now teaching online.

Cindy Kramer is missing the last quarter of her last year of teaching, said Bryan Kramer, so it meant a lot to her to see all the kids who came out to wave at their teachers and take videos of them.

There were so many cars in the parade that the Sunnyside teachers had to split up and do two routes so there weren’t so many cars going by at once.

Chuck Kramer at I. Keating has made its van available at area schools for kids to draw on. That was before the schools closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, said Bryan Kramer. He said I. Keating will make the van available to other schools in the area that want to have teacher parades to encourage the community.

People can call I. Keating in Minot for more information.