MOYOCK, N.C. (WAVY) — A community in Moyock is continuing an Easter tradition but putting a spin on it due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Moyock Assembly of God Church and its surrounding neighborhood has been holding an Easter egg hunt this week. But, unlike hunts where eggs are hidden, these eggs are out in plain site.
“Every time you go out or drive around the neighborhood, you see more eggs popping up out in front of the neighborhood,” said Crystal Owens, who is a resident.
Owens is also the youth pastor for the church and grew up there. She says the community recently had a Bear hunt, which has gained popularity due to the outbreak. Owens was thinking of other ways to continue activities like the bear hunt when a neighbor posted about the new egg hunt.
“What families are doing is decorating yards, placing eggs and not just plastic eggs. They’re drawing eggs and coloring them and designing them. They’re hanging them on their houses. They’re hanging them in their yards. Some of the families have put out treat bags for kids to pick up. It’s cool to see the families out walking together. It’s really neat,” she said.
Owens says the community has stepped up to help each other out during the pandemic. The church is used as a lunch distribution site for students and also serves as a place where kids can come to pick up books to read while they are at home.
She says that many kids are more engaged now that the eggs are up and enjoy seeing all the egg decorations. Owens is also proud that so many in the community pitched in to help.
“It makes me feel so good. Social media is there to draw people close together. I think in the long run, it has pulled us apart and we’ve lost that community feeling. This has been a plus side of the quarantine thing to take us back to yesteryear, where we get out and keep social distancing in place, but we’re still being a community and coming together. People were created to have a relationship and be together,” she said.
Owens says the decorations will remain up through Easter, but she hopes that lessons learned through the quarantine will last long past this season.
“I hope people will draw the value of family from all of this. You get kind of mundane and stuck in a rut of trying to get here, go there. Sometimes it pulls the family apart. I think the coolest thing about this quarantine is, it has put the family back together,” she said. “I think families will be able to instill dinner time and dinner conversations where they weren’t able to do that before because of the things they committed to. When we walk away from this, I hope we walk away with the sense of family stronger than we ever had before and a sense of community.”
Owens says the church will live stream services on Thursday and on Sunday. They will also plan similar events in the future.
