Since churches can't hold services because of COVID-19 restrictions, some in Grand Island found a few creative ways to celebrate Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week, and the Sunday before Easter in Christianity. It's traditionally one of the biggest religious days of the year for Christian churches, bringing in hundreds of people to worship.

Of course that's not the case this year, but some churches still found a way to safely engage people in the holy day.

Cars lined up for a drive-thru "Palm Sunday Parade" at Trinity United Methodist Church. People passed out the palms they'd normally use for a parade inside the sanctuary.

"The church is all about people and relationships. So when we can't be together, now we're being creative of other ways to be together and stay connected with each other," said Christina Landenberger, director of family ministry at Trinity United Methodist Church.

The church also gave out bags of Easter eggs for kids. Inside, they found candy that represented parts of Jesus' story.

On a normal year, the church might see upwards of 350 people attend services on Palm Sunday. Instead, it saw around 40 cars drive through the parking lot to pick up their palms, waving them out their windows and yelling "hosanna" as they headed home.

"Hosanna means, from the Greek translation, 'save us. Please save us,'" Landenberger said. "In Jerusalem, they were asking for Jesus to save (them) from the Roman oppression. Now we're asking Jesus to save us from COVID-19."

St. Leo's Catholic Church in Grand Island had a similar idea.

While wearing masks and gloves, they gave out palm branches to people as they drove by.

On a normal year, church goers would get the palms during mass.

"It's very strange. I as a pastor feel separation from my community. I miss them," said Fr. Don Buhrman, St. Leo's Catholic Church. "I hope when this is all over we can continue giving glory to God and thanksgiving with hopefully as little damage as possible from the virus."

Both St. Leo's and Trinity United Methodist have been live streaming sermons online and on Facebook. They did that on Palm Sunday, and will be on Easter Sunday as well.