Save the date: Willits’ Edie Ceccarelli, oldest person in the U.S., will celebrate 116 years this February

WILLITS, 1/14/24 — Willits’ own supercentenarian, Edie Ceccarelli, now the oldest person in the United States and the second oldest person in the world, will reach 116 years of age this February 5. As has occurred in many previous years, a community celebration will be held in her honor: this birthday will be recognized with a “drive-by parade” past Ceccarelli’s house beginning at 1 p.m. on February 4.

Ceccarelli was born and raised in Willits in 1908, and the town has celebrated many of her recent birthdays with a public celebration. The drive-by parades began in 2020 with the pandemic, and rain or shine, residents have decorated their vehicles, including everything from fire trucks to muscle cars, with birthday messages, streamers, flags and balloons to drive through her neighborhood and wave Happy Birthday to Ceccarelli. You can see some of our coverage of her previous celebrations here, and our livestream of of the 2023 event here.

Ceccarelli became the oldest person in the country just before her 115th birthday last year, and more recently became the world’s second oldest person. She is just over a year younger than Maria Branyas Morera, who will be 117 in March and lives in Spain, and who was also born in California.

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For those planning to join this year’s celebration, the parade will take place rain or shine on Sunday, February 4, from 1 – 1:30 p.m., driving past Ceccarelli’s home at 414 Grove Street in Willits. The parade route can be found in the flier from Avenues to Wellness below.

Here’s the event flyer:

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