By STEPHANIE BUNKER
Moapa Valley Progress
Things are beginning to warm up in Southern Nevada but spring was still in the air on Wednesday, April 16 at the Moapa Park for the annual Spring Egg hunt. The local Clark County Parks & Recreation staff plans this fun Easter event each year for families to enjoy during Spring Break.
The kids gathered at the park around 9:30 a.m.. No one wanted to be late for the egg hunt, which was to start at 10:00 sharp.
There were activities before the egg hunt for the kids to enjoy. The children decorated Easter baskets, played in a bounce house, and the face painting was a big hit. Connie Mortensen with her daughters Esther Jones and Courtney Villezcas and Courtney’s husband Arthur donated their time to painting fun and festive creations on faces and arms. The only time there wasn’t a long line for face painting was when it was time to hunt the Easter eggs.
At 9:55 the kids and their parents lined up for the egg hunt. All over the green field of the Moapa Park were 6,000 colored eggs, just laying in wait to be ambushed. And ambushed they were! When the whistle blew all of the kids left their parents in the dust to gather as many eggs as they could get their hands on.
To make things fair, there were dividers for the different age groups. The little tike’s ages 0-2 had their own field on the south part of the park and the big field to the North was divided off into sections for the 3-4 years olds, 5-6, 7-8, then the 9-10 aged kids got to find their Easter eggs in the wash just North of the big field.
The wash was challenging for Brady Montierth, but he was still able to gather just as many eggs as his siblings and help his brother get a prize egg.
The prize eggs are special for those that happen to pick one up. On 12 of the eggs in each age group was a piece of paper taped to the outside of the egg with a prize number on the paper. The kids that happened to pick up a prize egg won a special Easter prize. This year the prizes included Nerf balls, magic boards, stuffed bunnies lambs and sock monkeys, flying saucers, sand toy baskets, and pop and catch toys.
Gail Lindsay is the organizer of the Spring Egg Hunt. She said that there weren’t as many people as in years past. But that meant more eggs for the children that were there! Everyone’s baskets were filled to the brim with eggs filled with toys and candy.
“We always hold this event during Spring Break,” Lindsey said. “We find that everyone goes out of town on the weekend so during the week works out well.”
Coby Herring had a big cluster of eggs he was sorting through after the hunt.
“I couldn’t find a lucky egg, so my sister gave me one,” he said.
Through the kindness of his sister Coby received a giant pen.
The Moapa Parks and Rec Egg Hunt was a fabulous way to start off the Easter holiday.
