Baldwin celebrations carry on, at a distance

As people avoid large public gatherings and practice social distancing to prevent the further spread of coronavirus, many Baldwin families have turned to car parades and virtual services to celebrate birthdays and holidays.

Last Sunday, to celebrate Easter, Kevin Smith, Jess Eckles and Liz Smith drove through Baldwin neighborhoods with the Easter Bunny, inviting children and families to wave from their windows or from a safe distance.

“Our goal is to bring smiles and do something fun for our community,” organizers said on the Facebook event page, “not put anyone at risk.”

Look out for the black Jeep with the Easter Bunny waving to you from a safe distance, they wrote, and shared the message in local Facebook groups to spread the word. Originally planned as a three-hour tour to spread Easter and Passover cheer, it turned out to be seven and a half hours, organizers said.

“When we planned this last week knowing nothing was happening in town, we came up with this crazy idea,” they wrote. “It was a lot more than we expected it to be, but we all agreed when it was done that it was an amazing seven and a half hours. We wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else.”

Children and their families cheered and waved from the sidewalks and their front porches as the Easter Bunny Jeep passed them by.

“We hope everyone had a great day,” organizers said. “The expressions on all the kids’ faces made this all so worth it — actually, the adults, too!”

“I thought it was a really sweet thing of them to do for everybody for Easter,” said Denise McKeon, who stood outside on Eastern Parkway and waved to the Easter Bunny with her daughters, Kelly and Aubrey McKeon, and granddaughter, Laity Thiam.

“We were missing out going to the mall to meet the Easter Bunny, so this was a nice treat for him to come around,” Kelly, with her daughter, Laity, said.

Vicki Swanson also stood outside with her granddaughter, Brinley Swanson, who celebrated her first Easter. Her church, One Life Christian Church, hosted a virtual egg hunt last Saturday.

She and her husband, Paul Swanson, the associate pastor at the church, at 3147 Eastern Parkway, placed Easter eggs on the ground around the church as well as in their home next door. Vicki walked around, livestreaming the footage, and children were invited to count how many eggs they could spot.

Additionally, One Life Christian Church is opening its building, free of charge, to anyone in need of a funeral or memorial service once people are allowed to congregate again.

“We’ve had a lot that have passed, a lot of friends and family from our church who have passed, but it’s for anybody who needs a church, if they want to have funeral services, they are welcome to use our building for free,” Vicki explained. “If they need a pastor, my husband and the other pastor there, they’ll do services for free at our church.” For more information, visit www.onelifeli.com/grief.

Additionally, last Saturday, the Baldwin Civic Association teamed up with the Baldwin Fire Department and the Baldwin Hot Rod Association to host the Baldwin Together Easter Car Parade.

And on Easter Sunday, the Mufson family didn’t let the circumstances get in the way of birthday celebrations. A string of more than two dozen cars, driven by friends, family and local police officers, drove by their house near Plaza Elementary School honking and waving to Jackson and Aubrey, whose birthdays were on Saturday and Tuesday, respectively.

And it was a surprise for Jackson, who turned 7, and Aubrey, who turned 5. Michelle Eusebio-Mufson and her husband, Sean, posed for photos as friends and family handed them presents for the children and held up homemade signs with birthday messages.

Jackson “woke up saying it was going to be the worst birthday ever because he couldn’t be [with] or see his family and friends,” Michelle said. “We told him that we were waiting for the Easter Bunny to drive by, and once he saw all of the police and friends and family screaming happy birthday and throwing presents his way, he looked up and hugged me, saying, ‘Thanks, Mom, this is the best birthday ever!’”