It's Easter weekend -- a time for chocolate egg madness. A time when childrens' thoughts turn to finding, unwrapping, and consuming the sugary delights as fast as they can get their itsy-bitsy hands on them.
And hey adults, admit it. You go gaga for those shiny little orbs too. And who can blame you? They're egg-cellent.
Fortunately, there's no shortage of community Easter egg hunts in the Penticton region. What's more, if you played your cards right and had a few hours to spare over the course of the extended weekend, you theoretically could have hit all of them.
This year, the egg-citing action kicked off Saturday morning at 11:00 at Manitou Park in Naramata. An hour later, the hot spot was Memorial Park in Summerland for the "Easter EGG-stravaganza." And an hour after that, it was the Penticton Safety Village.
Today the awesomeness heads south to Lions Park in Okanagan Falls for a 1 pm start, then Monday to Mariposa Park on the West Bench for 11 am.
So we got to thinking. With five hunts situated so closely to one another and five community-minded groups organizing them, we had to get out there and do a round-up. A not-so-serious egg hunt throwdown, if you will.
Sadly, we didn’t have enough time to hit Summerland between Naramata and the Safety Village. And that's what you get when you're the middle event in a two-hour window.
But we've hopped to two so far and we intend to do two more before weekend's end.
Here then is Part I of our Throwdown, incorporating Saturday's hunts. We'll deliver Part II Monday.
In past years, Naramata's Manitou Park hosted one of the most unusual Easter events in the entire province. And at its heart was a helicopter.
At the appointed time, said helicopter would fly over the big open field in the middle of the park and unload its cargo -- hundreds of colourful ping-pong balls. Kids would rush the centre of the field and grab one of the balls, which they'd then exchange for chocolate eggs.
As visually stunning as it was, there were issues. The crowds were getting enormous. The "hunt" was over in a matter of a couple of minutes. And the chopper wasn't exactly the most environmentally friendly way of delivering eggs.
So this year, the "Naramata Easter Egg Drop" became the "Naramata Easter Egg Hunt." Instead of a helicopter dropping ping pong balls, organizers would "hide" eggs and other goodies in a small but complex trail system on the western edge of the park. At 11:00 am kids and parents alike would get the go-ahead to begin hunting.
The event made for great photographs as people popped in and out of foliage like little elves, looking for all that chocolate. Unfortunately, the pathways are narrow and many of the eggs were scooped up by the first folks through, leaving far fewer for those who stood at the back of the lineups.
Maybe in its second year organizers could try wave starts.
Still, there was plenty of fun to be had. The actual hunt lasted quite a bit longer than it did during the egg drop days, and before and after kids could get their faces painted while listening to Naramata-based singer-musician Yanti belt out youngish tunes.
"We decided to switch it up (from the chopper drop) for numerous reasons," said RDOS Recreation Coordinator Reagan Lovig, emerging temporarily from his Easter Bunny guise.
"Mostly, we wanted a community-driven event where kids can hang out and have music and things. Pollution was a factor too, and it cost lots of money that we figure can go to more community events through the year."
More than 1600 eggs were hidden said Loving, who estimated 150-plus kids -- and their parents, of course -- frolicked in the woods during the debut of Naramata's brand new egg hunt format.
If the Naramata event was wild and untamed, held in true "hunt" fashion in the midst of a rural forest, the "Easter Hop-Along," organized by the Kiwanis Club of Penticton at the Penticton Safety Village, was the very model of urban decorum.
Here, there was no racing to the next egg. There was no battling rogue squirrels and wayward branches for the next chocolately treat.
It was, instead, quite proper. Kids and their families signed up in advance and made their way to the registration table once they'd arrived, where they were handed glorious Easter baskets.
From there, they casually made their way around the Village to various sponsor stations, where they were pleasantly greeted at each and handed one or more of a variety of yummy treats.
It was the second-ever Kiwanis-run Safety Village Easter event (and the fourth Kiwanis event in the past two years at the Village if you include its Halloween "Trick or Treat Cycle-Path"). And according to organizational lead Katie Weitz, there'll be many more to come.
"We had 179 families -- 360 kids and double the number of adults -- come through," said Weitz, adding that nine local businesses set up and manned stations during the day and five more were supporting sponsors.
We asked Weitz what makes the Easter Hop-Along the winner of our Hunt Throwdown, and she was quick with a laugh and a reply.
"A lot of sponsorship," she said, "and lots of community engagement. People are now watching our social media pages, and we have followers looking for these events. And we collected a truckload of items for Mamas for Mamas South Okanagan. That alone makes it all worthwhile."
More tomorrow in Part II.
