As children impatiently waited alongside the perimeter for the “Egg Scramble,” to collect as many eggs as possible, the energy was bouncing off of the walls.
As part of the city of Santa Clarita’s inaugural Art Hop event at Hart Park on Saturday, families and children of all ages enjoyed crafts, local vendors and festivities as Santa Clarita welcomes spring.
“This is our first Art Hop event — it used to be two separate events: Extravaganza and the Youth Art Showcase. We wanted to kind of create a bigger visibility for our youth artists that perform at the Youth Art Showcase and organize our ‘Egg Scramble’ a little bit more effectively so that people have a more enjoyable experience,” Casey Miller, events supervisor for the city of Santa Clarita, said. “Really, we wanted to have a spring festival where you can hang out with your family at Hart Park.”
Art was an integral part of the festival, showcasing the artistic capabilities of local residents.
“This year, we also have chalk art happening. We have en plein air painting, which is open-air painting hosted by the Santa Clarita Artists Association. We have a couple of other art organizations here today hosting arts and crafts booths,” Miller said. “We have our Youth Art Gallery, where youth contestants submitted their work — the theme was: ‘The World Needs Art.’ We also have our Ballet Folklórico coming a bit later.”
In addition, other activities included: inflatables for kids to bounce on and recreational activities such as egg spoon races, bunny sack races and even pop up parkour.
This year, the “Egg Scamble” entailed six different time slots, with a couple of hundred children enrolled for each.
“The time slots started at 10:30 and took place 30 minutes thereafter, with different age groups at each time slot. We’re trying to organize it and make it fair for everyone to get some eggs, get some goodie bags at the end and make sure that everyone enjoys the event,” Miller said. “Everyone participates — no big prizes or anything. We’ve done it in the past, but this year’s different. Registration was also required ahead of time.”
The “Egg Scramble” alone sold out with 1,500 participants, with at least 3,000 attendees slated to attend the four-hour event.
“There’s no better feeling than months of planning coming together. We pitched this event in June, and it was approved in September, October. Since then, we’ve been planning about six, seven months and I’ve been really pleased,” Miller said. “It’s cool to see the community come out and enjoy everything that we’ve put together. If you missed it, I can’t wait to see you guys next year. To those who came out, thank you for enjoying the beautiful day, and we hope you had a hopin’ good time.”
Attendees enjoyed the festivities, including Emily D’Amore and her daughter, Capri, 3:
“We didn’t know that this was here. This was our first time. We’re looking forward to the egg hunt, you know, grab and go,” D’Amore said. “[Capri’s] ready to do all the art. Art and Easter — what a great combination.”
Cousins Hannah Bush, 9, and Aurora Wek, 7, excitedly cheered on Wek’s baby sister, Ariyah, 1, as she participated in the first round of the “Egg Scramble.”
“Well, I just love my cousin, and I want her to feel special. Today has been a great day with family members and friends,” Bush said.
Bush made sure to have a strategy before it was her turn.
“I’m going over here, [Aurora’s] going over there, so we can get some from both sides.”
As for whether the girls will be back next year?
“Probably.”
