Reviving the traditional Easter bonnet has become a way to engage both young and older members of the congregation at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Bovina.

Church member Carolyn Gent Burton said she was looking for ways to encourage people to get active and return to the church post-Covid when she came up with idea of making Easter bonnets for the congregation.

“A lot of people just haven’t come back to church (after Covid),” Gent Burton said. After watching the movie “Easter Parade” starring Judy Garland and realizing the practice of Easter bonnets involved centuries of tradition, the idea of bringing Easter bonnets back to the church began to grow.

Gent Burton approached the rector of St. Alban’s, the Rev. Elisabeth Malphours, with the idea.

“We talked about it, and I said, ‘What if I bullied everyone into making Easter bonnets?'” Gent Burton said with a laugh. “I call myself the Supreme Leader of the Supreme Egg-xecutive Committee. It’s silly, but it’s another way to get people engaged and active.”

Malphours loved the idea and noted they have a hallway in the church lined with historic photographs.

“One of the photos is of a little boy and girl wearing hats and it says, ‘Easter 1941,'” she said. “This project taps into our history.”

Gent Burton said she loves the lighthearted moments the hats add to an otherwise somber week.

“Holy Week is heavy,” she said. “It’s a time to sit and focus on what is hard. But it’s also an opportunity to experience so much joy on the other side of it. We can really feel the fullness of joy in the Easter season and the resurrection.”

Gent Burton also saw making the hats as a way to unite different age groups.

“By doing arts and crafts together, combining adults and children that maybe wouldn’t have an opportunity to connect fully in another way, having people from different generations working on a craft together is such a precious thing,” she said. “We have different activities throughout the year, and this is just one more way for people to really connect in ways that they maybe otherwise wouldn’t, so I hold that very dear.”

Easter bonnet assembly begins on Palm Sunday. The hat station is also available on Easter Sunday for those who may have missed the previous Sunday or be visiting the church.

The station features hats, headbands, flowers, feathers, ribbons and other decorative novelties. Most of the items are donated by church members. These are spread out on tables, and the creativity unfolds as participants choose their favorite decorations for their hats or headbands. Young and old gather together as they design unique concoctions that range from extravagant to conservative.

“Everybody pitches in to help,” Gent Burton said. She estimated that last year, the first year for the project, they made around 30 hats.

Some hat decorators choose large, colorful flowers adorned with bright bows and whimsical trinkets, while others choose more subtle colors and pale ribbons.

Gent Burton said most of the men in the congregation prefer a simple fedora with a feather. The more daring gentlemen might add a butterfly or a bird, she said.

Malphours said she was surprised by the popularity of the hats, especially with the teens.

“They loved the hats,” she said. “They were all asking for one. The inter-generational appeal was great. This really fit the bill for our congregation.”

“The hats are something fun and silly that we can do that just adds to the joy and splendor of the season,” Gent Burton said. “I cherish the connections our little community has. One of the best ways we can experience God’s love is to just stop and take a moment and look around and see that we are surrounded by these people, this community, all these connections that we can make. This helps us enjoy the beauty in the small things, which I think is something that God is always calling us to do; to appreciate the small moments with joy.”