Despite the inclement weather moving the 33rd annual city of Santa Clarita egg hunt indoors, families and community members were looking forward to an egg-citing day at the Canyon Country Community Center on Saturday for the Easter Eggstravaganza.
Two thousand children and their families began showing up at the Canyon Country Community Center half an hour early for the annual Easter Eggstravaganza, a popular annual tradition that celebrates the Easter holiday.
“Hunters,” a name given to the children participants by city staff, waited patiently behind a blue line before a city official would count down to one, giving the children the go to run toward the thousands of plastic pastel-colored eggs laid out on the basketball court during the egg scramble.
Twenty thousand eggs were ordered for the fun morning, most of which were empty. The goal for the children was to find eggs with a ticket declaring them a winner and the chance to take home fun prizes such as candy, toys, stuffed animals, bubble machines, and restaurant gift cards.
The annual tradition, which is normally held on the soccer fields at Central Park, was moved indoors after the Santa Clarita Valley was expecting heavy rain during Easter weekend and a flood watch implemented by the National Weather Service was put in effect warning residents.
“It’s the biggest, fastest event we do,” said David Knutson, event coordinator for the city. “At 10 o’ clock we say go and at 10:02 there’s no egg left on the ground,” he said.
Witnessing the children have fun quickly filling up their baskets over the past two decades has been something Knutson has enjoyed.
Despite the location change, it didn’t stop the community from showing up and making the morning a success and a memorable one for everyone involved.
Adrian Campbell, a new resident of the area, was there with his two children, 3-year-old Adam and 5-year-old Amy. The two of them, who had large smiles on their faces during the egg scramble, needed their father’s help to get through the large crowd of children.
“I heard the Eggstravaganza was free, and my kids love Easter. I figured it would be fun to bring them here to have fun, have the chance to take home some prizes if we won and show them it’s important to give back when you can. We’re very fortunate but it’s important to teach them that not everyone has the same, so I show them that when they can, they should give back.”
The egg hunt was a free admission event, but the city encouraged those who planned on attending to donate canned food to the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry, a local nonprofit organization that aims at alleviating hunger for residents.
Sophia Singh, who was at the Easter-themed event with her little brother Jayden, said she grew up attending the event throughout her childhood and wanted to take her brother to experience it, too.
“The egg scramble is just so fun. I enjoyed being a part of the madness as a kid, with children running as fast as they could and grabbing anything they saw in sight. I’ve had some moments where I couldn’t stop laughing because of how fun it was so I wanted him to experience it as well,” Singh said.
Families had the opportunity to take photos with Mr. E Bunny, and children with special needs who found the environment overstimulating could decompress in a special location, a new addition to the annual event that they were happy to have to accommodate families, said Knutson.
