It’s Easter Sunday. Which means a lot of different things for people. As a kid, it was all about eating candy before breakfast. In my early years of adulthood, I struggled with what do with Easter Sunday. Then I discovered the annual Easter Bonnet Parade on 5th Avenue. Now I look forward to this event all year. It’s a joyous community celebration of spring, fashion, and creativity. Simply a few of my favorite things.

I planned on going all out this year, assembled my whole outfit ahead of time and purchased decorative supplies. Then COVID-19 shut down the city.

New York Easter Bonnet Parade 2020 is canceled. So let’s celebrate with a walk down memory lane of past parades!

And celebrate some friends I’ve made at Easter Bonnet Parades who aren’t letting quarantine stop them from bringing the fabulous!

This gentleman goes by “Ed Hatter”. I’ve followed him on social media for years, after meeting him at this parade one Easter Sunday. His hats are always amazing, such detailed works of art!

Ed Hatter shared his 2020 hat on social media this morning! Not just a celebration of Easter, the hat honors NYC’s front line heroes.

I remember this group of friends from one of the first parades I attended. They were having such a blast and just looked fabulous.

Years after snapping the shot, I realized I now knew the fella on the right in blue! He’s my brilliant friend (and brilliant actor) Chris McIntyre. We frequently perform together with The Drunk Texts.

Chris is sharing amazing makeup transformations most everyday of this “pause”, here’s today’s:

I began following “Tom’s Eye View Blog” after meeting Tom and admiring this hat with intricately decorated eggs at the 2015 Easter Bonnet Parade.

I look forward to seeing his new egg characters every year. He shared some of his 2020 Easter egg ladies on his blog https://tomseyeview.wordpress.com:

I’ll be trolling Instagram for #easterbonnetparade pics for the rest of the day. And enjoying the hundreds of photos I’ve taken in the past. All below I’ve never shared on the blog before. Happy Easter, happy spring!

Hats from the past NYC Easter Bonnet Parades!

Happy spring! Hope all are staying safe and healthy inside! If you’re like me and can’t get enough of these marvelous hats, please check out my previous NYC Easter Bonnet Parade posts: 2018, 2017, 2016 2015, 2014, 2013