HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — With Easter being one of the first social distancing holidays as a result of the coronavirus, you may be looking for creative ways to spend your days while still having that Easter feeling.

Here is a guide to help you navigate the weekend with everything from Hampton Roads meals, local goodie baskets, virtual church services, and even Easter bunny visits!

Easter Bunny Visits

The Easter Bunny will be visiting various Virginia Beach neighborhoods on Saturday, April 11 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. He plans to make some special stops where he will get off his Easter float and dance around your front yard while leaving a special Easter treat if your basket is at the end of your driveway.

For more information and to get added to his stop list, contact lawrper@mail.regent.edu asap or visit the Facebook event page.

Easter Eats

The Founders Inn in Virginia Beach is having an Easter Brunch to go. Orders must be placed by Thursday, April 9 by calling 757-366-5777 and can be picked up on Saturday, April 11.

Black Angus Restaurant in Virginia Beach will be open Saturday and Sunday until 4 p.m. for those that want to pre-order an Easter meal from the buffet menu. The food will be portioned in containers and chilled for re-heating later. Hot food can be picked up on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

RZ Restaurants in Norfolk is serving up a family-style Easter dinner to go! Spiral honey glazed ham or prime rib will be available for the main entree with your choice of three sides and dessert. Complimentary yeast rolls and honey butter also come with every order. The menu can be found online and you can pre-order by April 8 by calling 757-624-1455. 

The Stockpot Norfolk is planning curbside Easter eats. Pickup will be available Saturday or Sunday. The menu is on its way and can be found on the restaurant’s Facebook page once its posted.

Grace O’Malley’s in Norfolk has a few special Easter menu items including Celtic Eggs: two hard-boiled eggs, wrapped in Irish banger, panko encrusted and deep-fried golden brown, served with Dijon mustard, and Roast Pork Tenderloin with mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, baby carrots, peas, and Guinness gravy, served with puff pastry. The full list of menu items is available online for pre-order curbside pick up or delivery to select locations.

Sweet Tea & Barley at the Williamsburg Lodge will be offering three-course Easter meals available for curbside pickup. The restaurant has a family meal for two and a meal for four which cost $35 and $65, respectively. The meals include an appetizer of parsnip pear bisque and Easter pasta salad; an entree of house-smoked apricot and whole-grain mustard ham with fingerling potatoes, southern braised collard greens, and sweet rolls. Dessert includes lemon blueberry pound cake and hot cross buns. Pre-orders will be accepted until 8 p.m. on Friday, April 10 by calling 1-800-447-8679.

The Williamsburg Lodge will have Easter Sunday meals available for distribution by Meals on Wheels at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Meals include cooked turkey and enough sides to feed a family of four. Pickups will be available at the Williamsburg Hellenic Center located at 4900 Mooretown Road. The effort is made possible with support from the Williamsburg Area Restaurant Association, local restaurant owners and culinary professionals who donated both food and their culinary talents to the project.

Additional restaurants offering special Easter meals include:

Easter Hunts

In Norfolk, the city will host a photo scavenger hunt that will run from Saturday, April 11 at 8 a.m. until Sunday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Each family gets an hour to collect as many items they can find on the list and take pictures to post on social using #stayhomeandplay and tagging @NorfolkRPOS. The list can be found on the Facebook page and there may be a prize at the end of the hunt!

Venture on the Nauticus’ Virtual “Egg Hunt” from horseshoe crabs to epaulette sharks, each creature has its own unique way of reproducing. Gather the family to examine “Easter Eggs” that belong to different species at Nauticus. Then, guess which egg belongs to who. Visit nauticus.org to download worksheets.

Easter Services

The Church of Good Shepherd in Smithfield will be streaming Sunday Mass via its Facebook page. Join Fr. Tony and Good Shepherd Parish for Mass at 9 a.m. on Sunday, April 12.

Wave Church Norfolk will be holding two Sunday celebrations at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on April 12 that will include music and a message from Pastor Jared Klingmeyer. More information can be found on the Facebook event page.

Nansemond River Baptist Church in Suffolk will be offering on Sunday services beginning at 9:30 a.m. More information can be found on the church’s Facebook page.

Beginning at 7:30 a.m., Community United Methodist Church in Virginia Beach will be offering services all morning including sunrise worship, Easter organ concert, virtual Easter egg hunt, modern worship and traditional worship. The details and schedule can be found online.

Join WMBG Radio FM 93.5 and AM 740 for a special Easter presentation. The local services will begin at 8 a.m. on Easter Sunday with a message from Pastor Reginald Davis from First Baptist Church followed by Pastor Jim Hunter from Walnut Hills. At 9 a.m., Pastor Ed Preston from Tsena Commocko Baptist Church speaks, followed by a special episode of A Woman’s Heart at 9:30 a.m. At 10 a.m., you can hear an uplifting, and dynamic message for Easter 2020 from Fred Liggin at Williamsburg Christian Church. The services will conclude with Williamsburg Presbyterian Church delivering their message live from Pastor John Morgan. The services can also be heard online at WMBGRadio.com.

Waters Edge Church in Yorktown will introduce their first-ever Virtual Choir. The church planned to have choir members on stage singing during its Easter services but has moved them to a virtual platform. Over the last week, virtual choir members have visited the church’s website and many have uploaded videos singing from home. Those videos will be combined into a virtual choir that will be assembled for a very special song during Waters Edge Church’s Easter services this Sunday at 8:00 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 6:00 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.

Local Easter Basket Treats

Prince Books on Main Street in Norfolk has Easter cards, puzzles, workbooks, and games to fill the baskets with. The bookstore is still open to the public while maintaining appropriate social distancing practices until 5 p.m. daily and will be closed for Easter.

Still looking for sweet treats to fill the baskets with? A few sweet spot shops are open for delivery and curbside pickup:

How about some fresh coffee and a chocolate bunny? A few coffee shops will still be buzzing this weekend and available for delivery and curbside (call ahead to check hours):

How about Beer Baskets? Cold beer and chocolate bunnies? A few local breweries have some Easter goodies available for curbside and delivery for those 21 and above:

More Easter Fun & Activities

Nauticus PEEP and Jelly Bean Science Experiments. Enjoy fun science using Peeps and other spring treats. Hands-on STEM-based activities include the making of Peep slime, a Peep boat race challenge, Eggs Zipline Challenge, Egg Roll Challenge, Jelly Bean Structure Challenge as well as Minute to Win It challenges that are fun for the entire family. Visit nauticus.org to download worksheets.

Join the Nauticus Passover activity where kids can READ, WATCH, ACT. The following activity highlights the amazing Red Sea, one of the oldest documented maritime waterways! 

A classical music weekend will be broadcasting on via WHRO’s Classical station on 90.3FM.

  • Good Friday, April 10 at 9 p.m.: The 2019 concert recording of Mahler’s powerful Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection), conducted by JoAnn Falletta with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, along with members of the F. Ludwig Diehn Chorale and ODU Concert Choir, with soloists Mary Wilson (soprano) and Susan Platts (mezzo soprano).
  • Easter Sunday, Apr. 12 at 4 p.m.: Handel’s Messiah. Recorded in December 2019, this performance features soloists Maria Valdes, soprano; Allegra De Vita, mezzo-soprano; Carlos Enrique Santelli, tenor; and Calvin Griffin, bass-baritone. Stephen Mulligan conducts the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

Out for a drive? Swing past the Hampton Boulevard mascots Scotch & Soda the lions to see their Easter outfits! They are located at the intersection of Hampton and Spotswood.

Drive through and see how this Moyak neighborhood has decorated for Easter with a created spin on an Easter egg hunt.

In addition to the scavenger hunt, Norfolk Recreation, Parks & Open Space will also be hosting a week-long chalk art challenge running from Monday, April 13 through to Friday April 17 at 11:30 p.m. This is a chance to get out and draw whatever you want! It can be Easter eggs, stick figures, animals or even random doodles.

Outside of Hampton Roads

On Easter Sunday, April 12 at 1 p.m. (EST), Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will give a solo performance streamed live from the historic Duomo, the cathedral of Milan, Italy. This performance can be viewed via Bocelli’s YouTube channel. If you visit the channel ahead of time, you can sign up to have an alert remind you before it starts.

The Knotts Island Fire Department and EMS team in North Carolina will be driving the Easter Bunny around town in one of its fire trucks on Sunday from 10 a.m. until noon. The plan is to start at Sandy Point and East Point Estates and head on to the North End. The drive is weather permitting and the route and information can be found online.

Did we miss your event? Let us know and we will add you to the list!

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