ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Chamber of Commerce and Richmond County Tourism Authority are collaborating to put on a virtual Easter egg hunt next week.
Anyone can participate in the Easter egg hunt, which is slated to begin on April 6 and end on April 12. Participating local businesses will each post one Easter egg somewhere on their respective Facebook pages. They can choose where to post the eggs, whether it’s on their main news feed, in a photo album or somewhere else.
It is up to the Easter egg hunt participants to find and take a screenshot of 10 of those eggs. Once an individual has 10 screenshots, they can email them to [email protected] or [email protected] for verification. Successful participants will be entered for a chance to win a gift basket filled with items and gift cards supplied by local businesses.
Businesses who want to participate need to message one of the aforementioned email addresses. Each business will receive an image of an egg to post on their Facebook page.
As of Friday, around 15 businesses had signed up to hide eggs, and several more were showing interest.
Lauren Brewer, Director of Marketing and Membership at the chamber of commerce, spearheaded the planning of the Easter egg hunt.
“We follow a bunch of other chambers, and we saw they were doing something similar,” Brewer said.
The chamber’s goal was to find a safe alternative to traditional Easter egg hunts — one that is in compliance with social distancing orders.
“We wanted a way to keep (children) active while also supporting local businesses,” Brewer said while noting that the Easter egg hunt will drive traffic to the business’ digital offerings.
Meghann Lambeth, executive director of the Richmond County Tourism Authority, echoed Brewer’s thoughts about supporting local businesses.
“My focus up to this point was to entice people who don’t live in this county to come to this county,” Lambeth said.
Her focus has now shifted to supporting the business and people who are already in Richmond County.
The public’s reaction to the event has been positive. On the virtual Easter egg hunt’s Facebook page, just over 100 people listed themselves as “interested” in participating.
“I hope that continues to go up over the weekend, and even early next week,” Brewer said.
When the Easter egg hunt officially begins on Monday, participating businesses will be tagged on the event’s Facebook page, which can be found by searching “2020 Virtual Easter Egg Hunt” on Facebook. The hunt will end at midnight on the following Sunday.
“Brewer and Lambeth both said they’re encouraging everyone in Richmond County to sign up — not just to support the local economy, but also to improve morale in a stressful time.
“By participating, you’re showing community pride,” Lambeth said.
Prize will be items and gift cards, combo of offerings from Tourism and Department of Commerce.
