Coronavirus Causes Americans To Have Fun At Easter At Less Than 6 Feet Apart

New York - Easter is a very special holiday for Nora Heddendorf, 6 years old. It's a day Nora likes to dress with fancy shoes and dresses and go on a hunt with her family and friends to find colorful eggs.

The coronavirus pandemic made her to adjust this year. She will accessorize her Easter outfit with a white mask, blue disposable gloves, and a bottle of disinfectant wipes. And after learning that her New Jersey town's annual egg hunt could be cancelled, she came up with the idea of a "rock hunt." Extremecraft

Article content Nora's hunt does not only replaces brightly painted stones for eggs which are not in stock at certain stores, but it also lets her neighbors do their hunting during their walks.

"I was disappointed that it was going to be cancelled due to the virus," the kindergartener said to Reuters in a phone interview. "I want to make people feel happy."

The epidemic has affected everyone from the White House to small towns parks. It also led to the cancellation of the traditional Easter egg hunts across the United States. Closed churches and scupched plans for Easter meals with extended families.

However, many Americans are still looking for ways to have fun during the holidays such as an Oregon candymaker making chocolate bunnies wearing face masks to a Texas church organizing an egg hunt that is virtual using the video game Minecraft.

Article content A few weeks ago, Nora and her mother began organizing her hunt in their town of Medford Lakes. She put together a number of DIY kits, each with five rocks and four paint colors, instructions and all packaged in plastic bags. She put on disposable gloves and sprayed all contents with disinfectant.

The kits were then placed outside her home to be picked up by anyone who wants to take part. The young artist, Nora's rocks, asked her friends to return the adorned rocks she gave to her to hide.

"Thank you for helping Nora's Rocks bring our community closer while remaining apart," she wrote in the instruction note she included with the kits.

Her mother, Samantha Heddendorf, president of an environmental cleanup business which has been removing toxins from buildings affected by the coronavirus outbreak The hunt is scheduled to start on Good Friday and run until Easter Sunday, when fresh batch of painted rocks to be found each day.

Article content The purpose of this project is to put 500 stones "eggs" in every corner of the 1 mile (2.6 km) town.

"When people are doing their walks with friends, they might be looking for rocks - or so-called Easter Eggs. Samantha Heddendorf stated that they could find something to look for, take them home and at the very least, have an emoji to commemorate Easter.

In Central Point, Oregon, chocolatier Jeff Shepherd had a brainstorm to save his Lillie Belle Farms from shutdown in the wake of coronavirus. Extremecraft He shared with his Facebook fans that he was going to create "Covid Bunnies" which are dark and milk chocolate confections with white masks on them and white chocolate ones with blue face masks.

It was an enormous success. Extremecraft Shepherd was able to hire back seven of his full-time employees, sold 5,000 bunnies, and is now scrambling to fill back orders.

Article content Secure distancing to prevent the spread of viruses is what convinced the Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, to move to digital with its Easter Egg hunt, using Minecraft but disabling potentially scary game elements like monsters.

Reverend Curtis James stated, "Our main goal in life is to spread the gospel. But we want the children to be able to enjoy Easter."

Back in New Jersey, Nora was thrilled that her idea was welcomed by a wide range of people, including the town's mayor who stopped by to watch her fill the kits and the local Lions Club inviting her for lunch "when this entire thing is done."

Her favorite "thanks" was wrapped in gift-wrapped rolls of toilet paper. This was one of the mainstays that people panic-shopped during the pandemic.

"My mom smiled when the paper for the toilet came," Nora said. (Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Additional reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien.)