By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
A field covered with colorful eggs enticed hundreds of local children as they arrived at the Moapa Park on Friday morning to participate in the Spring Egg Hunt. The annual event takes place in Moapa each year and is put on by the local Clark County Parks and Rec staff with Clark County Community Pride grant funding.
Excited kids began arriving at the park at around 9:15 in anticipation of the big hunt, said Gail Lindsey of Parks and Rec. “We had some kids come early but there was plenty for them to do before the hunt got started,” Lindsey said.
At the park’s pavilion, children could visit several activity stations including face painting, making pinwheels, coloring, stickers and more. The crowds grew larger and larger as the time for the big hunt grew near.
At about 9:45 children began lining up along the edge of the grass, peering over into the field at the sea of colored eggs awaiting them. The field had been divided up for five different age groups to allow a fair shot at the eggs to everyone.
Parks staff had arrived at 8:30 that morning to hide 4,000 colored plastic eggs in the field, Lindsey said. Each egg had been filled with candy or small toys. Special prize eggs were also hidden. If found, these coveted items allowed the recipient to lay claim to a number of larger prizes on display at a table near the pavilion.
“We hid 13 prize eggs in each age group,” Lindsey said. “Enough to make it interesting.”
At 10:00 a.m. sharp, Lindsey blew the whistle and set the kids free onto the field. In a mad rush children ran in every direction scooping up eggs. The fields were stripped clean of the plastic eggs within about three minutes.
The 10-11 age group took a little longer as their egg hunt area was the rugged desert wash behind the park. This posed more of a challenge to find all of the eggs for that group.
After the mad dash was over, children and parents gathered in the grass to sort through their eggs and see what treats and treasures they had found. Kids were invited to stick around and continue with the activities that had been provided at the pavilion.
The Moapa Spring Egg Hunt has been an annual event at the park for more than a dozen years, according to Lindsey.
“Before that it was put on by the Moose Lodge and was held in someone’s hay field here in Moapa,” Lindsey said. “But when the park was built and we had a lawn here, we approached the Moose Lodge and asked them if we could work together with them to bring the event to the park.”
Later, when the Moose Lodge closed its doors, Parks and Rec kept the event going for local children to enjoy, Lindsey said. And it has been going strong ever since.
“It is a lot of fun for so many kids,” Lindsey said. “We just love to do it every year.”
