A HOPPING GOOD TIME

For the first time the Plains Lions Club and the Assembly of God Church moved their annual Easter Egg Hunt up one day and it was a big success, according to organizers.

"I really like doing it on Saturday," said Jessica Peterson, the primary coordinator with the church. Peterson and several other members of the Church on the Move have missed Easter Sunday services for the last six years because they were setting up the Easter egg hunt, which had been held at 1 p.m. on Easter Sunday. The Plains Lions Club had done the event by themselves at Fred Young Park for more than 40 years, but Lions Club President Steve Spurr suggested that the club and church team up for the event.

They joined forces to do the Easter egg hunt in 2017, though it was not held one year because of the pandemic. Peterson said they held the hunt later in the day this year because of soccer games. The event was conducted by more than a dozen Church on the Move volunteers and four Lions - Rich Miller, Ben Miller, Marion Jolin and Spurr. Church members filled eggs with candy a week earlier and put out over 5,300 plastic eggs on Saturday.

Organizers divided the egg hunt into five age groups from newborn to age 14 and planned to let the children retrieve their eggs one group at a time with Kelsey Standeford on the public address system to start each group. Some of the parents and grandparents helped the 22 kids in the youngest group, which went up to 2 years old. The second class of 63 kids in the 3- to 5-year-old group made quick work of the colorful plastic eggs in their section. During the second group, 7-year-old John Blood tried to get 20-month-old Dempsey Blood to pick up eggs in another area.

The 6- to 8-year-olds had the largest number of children with 78, but when that group took off, so did the next two - the 62 kids in the 9- to 11-year-olds and the 20 boys and girls in the 12- to 14-year-old group. Peterson tried to get them back behind the starting lines, but Plains resident Tracy Scott said, "It looked like she was trying to herd cats."

It was also the first time that organizers added an adult egg hunt, which was held after all the kids got their eggs. "Do not bulldoze me; I don't have my pepper spray," said Sean Peterson, who ran the adult group. For the adults, they "hid" 34 eggs with slips of paper inside with the name of the prizes, which were picked up from a table at the park. The prizes ranged from a large blanket to handmade Native American bead earrings by Jennay Ovitt, who handed out children's books from Hopa, a nonprofit organization.

"I wanted this to be a vicious egg hunt," joked Standeford. "It's not often that adults get to act like kids," she said. Forty-two people aged 15-70 participated in the adult egg hunt. Eggs were mostly in the open for the adults, too, though one man climbed a tree to retrieve an egg. The adult hunt was over in one minute and five seconds, according to Darren Standeford, who timed the event on his cellphone. "We thought it would be fun to get the adults involved," said Jessica Peterson. "The adults were as excited about this as the little kids and they were very competitive, too," said Sean Peterson.

In all, 290 kids and adults took part in the egg hunt. Most of the participants were Plains residents, but there were also people from Paradise, Missoula, Alberton and Thompson Falls. "There were a lot of new faces this year," said Jessica Peterson, who felt the event went well, except for when the older kids started too early. The church bought the egg candy and the Lions Club purchased the three tables full of prizes, from toy sunglasses and coloring books to hula hoops. Each child could pick out a prize after returning their empty eggs. "We were able to buy some really cool prizes this year," said Spurr. Mountain West Clothing donated a box of stuffed bunnies and First Security Bank once again donated two bikes. Violet Huffman, 6, and Ashlynn Franks, 9, won the bikes.

"We love the support from our community because we're a community driven church," said Kelsey Standeford. One of the event's big attractions was a six-foot bunny, aka Phillip Marquez of Charlo, who roamed the crowd and posed for photos. Another big hit was a 1-year-old rabbit, Lynx, brought by Cooper Spurr, Steve's daughter. His wife, Whitney Tanner-Spurr, had six 2-month-old silkie chicks on hand for people to hold. She said they hope to have a Highlander calf at the event next year.

Jessica and Steve both agreed that holding the event on a Saturday went well and they plan to do it again for 2024.