The kids were lined up like hunting dogs held at bay, just waiting for the hunt to begin. The hunt for what, you ask? Why, Easter Eggs of course. And with a clap of the hands and a shout of "GO" they were off, scrambling to collect every plastic egg they could find.
As in years past, the fields at Greenwood Park had been decorated with little brightly colored oblong orbs of plastic that contained prizes and "a LOT of candy," as organizer Mary Venegas, director of the Chamber of Commerce put it.
But things were a little different this year. Unseasonably warm, summer-like spring temperatures meant that instead of shivering, all bundled up against frigid temperatures, and shifting from foot to foot to try and keep warm, everyone was comfortable in t-shirts and many even wore shorts, as the mercury climbed north of 70 degrees.
Also different this year, there were no golden eggs containing the coveted big prize certificates, for kids to spy at a distance and then struggle over. Instead, the winning certificates were hidden in regular eggs, and it was just a matter of luck who won them.
One other notable difference: the Easter Bunny showed up this year to pose for pictures with the kids! Of course, the Easter Bunny is understandably quite busy and in demand at this time of year, and so he can't make it to every town, every year for personal appearances. He's got a lot of eggs to hide. But this year, he made it to Eagle Grove, and from the thousands of colorful pieces of plastic shining among the blades of green grass in the sunlight, it was easy to see he'd been busy.
Of course, he had plenty of help. "We get so many volunteers helping out," said Venegas, "we had students to help placing out eggs," filled with candy thanks to donations from Prestage and Daybreak, and several other local businesses. And it was a good thing too, because, "I think we had over 300 kids this year," Venegas estimated, "so that's amazing!"
Cassidy Reed, Prestage Foods representative on the Board of the Chamber of Commerce, also served as an organizer of the event. "I'm also in charge of donations for Prestage, so it kind of worked out – we bought a LOT of Candy," Reed said with a chuckle, drawing out the "L" in "LOT" for emphasis.
Lots of candy or not, the kids still had it all collected in a couple of minutes flat.
