Ingleside Together: Neighborhood Association Launches Socially Distanced Easter Egg Hunt

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With a little ingenuity, Mission Terrace neighbors will keep their annual Easter egg hunt despite the shelter-in-place order.

“An Easter egg hunt is more pagan than religious,” said David Hooper, president of the New Mission Terrace Improvement Association. “It’s the idea that communities can have events and people get out and meet one another. It’s important, and the more that people break bread or share something, the stronger the sense of community.”

NMTIA has invited neighbors to chalk the sidewalk and adorn their own windows, doors and trees with Easter egg art for the entirety of Easter week to allow passersby to hunt for them — while being six feet apart, of course — by collecting photographs and posting them on social media.

The idea is one of many planned nationwide to safely celebrate Easter amid restrictions on congregations. It’s at least the second time Mission Terrace neighbors will switch gears to hold the celebration.

Usually hosted by the NMTIA and the Tannous brothers of the Roxie Food Center at San Jose and San Juan avenues, the residence park’s annual Easter Egg hunt regularly sees the community congregate at Balboa Park, where 2,500 plastic eggs are filled with chocolates and prizes. Before that — maybe some two decades ago, Hooper said — they used to set up 2,500 hard-boiled eggs, no longer done due to the work and wastage.

“Easter is still Easter,” Hooper said. “It just means a modification. People will remember this Easter more than the ones that came before or after. It’s going to be different, but that’s going to make it more valuable. It’s not going to diminish it — just make it different.”

Hooper said he looks forward to planning the association’s 33rd annual July 4 parade and picnic.

For more information, visit NMTIA’s website: http://www.nmtiasf.com/easter-egg-hunt–social-distancing.html

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