COVID and the Easter Bunny

Brian Cullin | Story

Quilcene may be small and unincorporated but its community spirit is big. Earlier this spring, folks at the Quilcene Historical Museum were wondering how they might once again partner with the Fire Rescue to celebrate the Easter holiday. In years past a community egg hunt was held. Before the pandemic, the town’s children hunted throughout the meadows and trails of Worthington Park to collect their eggs and enjoy pony rides and refreshments.

This year it was felt such a celebration might not be safe with the pandemic still very active in the region. So the Museum reached out to community leaders in the Fire Rescue department, local churches, businesses and civic organizations, and the food bank to identify those in the community who had perhaps been most marginalized by the virus. The thought was to offer them a little holiday cheer - an Easter basket. It did not take long to create a list of names.

Most of the people on the list were long time residents who had been shut-ins over the past year. The creation of the list reflected a unique coming together of diverse individuals and organizations from a community that looks after one another. Those community leaders gathered briefly together at the newly restored Worthington mansion a week before Easter weekend, to finish assembling all of the baskets and to take stock of their combined effort. They all then departed to deliver the baskets to those they had “adopted.” Feedback from the Easter basket recipients has been warm and often moving. While this was a relatively modest act, it made our neighbors feel they were not alone. Pandemic or not, there will likely be a repeat act next year.

And as for that Easter egg hunt? The Quilcene School determined a way to do the hunt safely on the school grounds. With a little help from the Museum, Fire and Rescue, and the Lions Club, the students got their eggs - and a little hot cocoa too!