By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
The Easter Bunny clearly had been hard at work early on Wednesday morning, April 13 at Moapa Park. The green lawn was strewn with literally thousands of colorful plastic eggs; each one filled with a special springtime surprise of some kind.
Lined up on the edge of the grass were more than 100 eager kids, divided into four different age groups. The field had been market with boundary lines that the various age groups could not cross. But there were plenty of eggs inside those boundaries for all groups to find.
Clutched in their hands the children had baskets, buckets, bags and a myriad of other containers which would make it easier for them to claim their share of this vast harvest of Easter eggs.
Moapa mom Jennifer Farnsworth had brought her youngster bright and early for the annual egg hunt event. He was looking over the lawn with a gaze of excitement.
“We love this event every year,” Jennifer said. “Especially this year. We are just so glad to be able to be out and do this stuff again!”
The start time of the hunt had been clearly publicized as 10:00 am. And it was no later than that when local Parks and Rec coordinator Elmer Lopez spoke over a sound system welcoming everyone to the activity.
Lopez gave a countdown from 10 to allow any latecomers still in the parking lot to hustle up and join the starting line. Then he gave the key word: “Go!” And the crowd of kids was off.
It didn’t take long. Within eight minutes the entire field had been cleared of eggs.
Then both kids and parents sat in the grass together and sorted through their spoils. Each of the three Barnes children of Logandale – including Britney, 7; Luke, 4; and Ryan, 17 months – had reaped buckets that were full to the brim with eggs. Luke was already cracking his eggs open revealing contents of candy, stickers and small toys.
The Jauregui kids of Moapa were also in attendance for the annual festivities. They included Jaime, 9; Rosa, 7; and Salvador, 5. Their baskets were also full to overflowing.
In all of the melee, young Salvador had managed to find one of the coveted “prize eggs.” These eggs are affixed with a number that corresponds to a special toy item which can be claimed after the hunt at the prize table. Salvador was happy with his prize which was a toy baseball and bat.
Local Parks and Rec coordinator Lauralyn Robison was pleased with the event. She revealed that the field of eggs had NOT actually been set by the Easter Bunny at all. Rather it was her and about a half dozen staffers who showed up early to do it. It took this crew about 20 minutes to scatter the 6,000 eggs that had been provided by Clark County Parks and Rec Department for the activity.
“As usual, it took less than half the time it takes to hide the eggs for the kids to gather them all up,” Robison said. “It is that way every year. But it is all in good fun and everyone has a great time.”
