In addition to celebrations on the streets, roughly 2,000 churches around the city hold Easter Sunday services, the most famous of them all being  at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

But this year, with COVID-19 ravaging New York, the now epicenter of the world’s coronavirus outbreak, there was no parade, no services, nothing that would reflect a celebration.

This is Easter Sunday in New York City during COVID-19.

A person wearing a protective suit walks down Park Avenue and past Christ Church, April 12, 2020. Photo by Thomas Hengge

A person wearing bunny ears passes by a closed down church, April 12, 2020. Photo by Thomas Hengge

A man wearing a crown of thorns and various religious signifiers near Radio City Music Hall, April 12, 2020. Photo by Thomas Hengge

A person stands outside a closed St. Patrick’s Cathedral, April 12, 2020. Photo by Thomas Hegge.

Flowers sit outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, April 12, 2020. Photo by Thomas Hengge

A sign outside St. Bart’s Church offers information regarding livestream services, April 12, 2020. Photo by Thomas Hengge

A virtually empty 5th Avenue where the annual NYC Easter Bonnet Parade was to take place, April 12, 2020. Photo by Thomas Hengge

The post Easter appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

The post The Pope in NYC appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Yet religion was not a requirement to come out and celebrate.

“I’m not Catholic,” said Jill Macklem of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, who wore a straw hat trimmed in tulips. “It’s a day of community and everyone’s coming out and being part of it.”

Beth Tallman of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, represented her borough by sporting locally inspired headgear. “Our neighbors raise chickens, so we decided that we’d take the chicken theme to a whole new level and be the Bed Stuy Peeps,” she said.

Parade goers put on hats to promote a number of causes, including animal cruelty, same sex marriage and workers’ rights.

Moved by a recent wave of protests in the Midwest, Brian Griffin of Astoria, Queens, decorated his tall, vertical creation with labor speak slogans.

“In support of unions in Wisconsin, I made a hat that said New York is pro-collective bunnying,” he said. “United we bargain, divided we beg.”

Still, most came out to embrace the wacky, the quirky and a sense of camaraderie.

“I stumbled on the Easter parade several years ago,” said Mike Revenaugh of Astoria, Queens, who wore a motorized Ferris wheel head dress he built out of K’Nex toys and glue. “I saw it was a bunch of people making their own silly hats and that’s kind of right up my alley.”

The post For Easter on Fifth Avenue, faith is optional appeared first on Pavement Pieces.