April 8, 2008

An eggcellent eggstravaganza

Yikes, a bunny! Two and a half year old Ashton Douglas wasn’t quite sure about the Easter bunny but the hare seems to like him. Photo by Cynthia Holiday

Ask any one of the 1,000 parents and kids who attended the Campbell Kiwanis Club’s annual Eggstra-vaganza and they’ll tell you, everyone had an “eggcellent” time.

“No child will leave the Eggstravaganza without candy,” said Campbell Kiwanis Club member Jim Free. “If they don’t collect any in the eggs and candy in the athletic field hunt we’ll give them some at the gift table.”

The table also supplies prizes for kids whose egg doesn’t include jelly beans or chocolate with a special gift slip to be redeemed. And with over a 1,000 eggs stuffed with goodies by the Campbell Seniors’ Program the kids all have plenty to hunt for as well as other fun events.

The Eggstravaganza was held at the Campbell Community Center on March 22 and besides the candy hunt with separate areas staged for two-year-olds, three-year-olds, four- to six-years-old and seven- to nine-year old youngsters there were a plethora of other activities. Starting at 9 a.m., the kids enjoyed face and fingernail painting, games, arts and crafts and a jump house. The Eggstravaganza bunny was available for photos with the kids. And there was even coffee and donuts for early rising parents with excited kids in tow.

Ashton Douglas decided he liked Campbell’s Eggstravaganza. Photo by Cynthia Holiday

“One thing I like is that I always get a parking space,” said Cynthia Holiday, a Campbell resident who brought her son Ashton Douglas, 2 1/2, again this year. “I am amazed at how many people park and walk thinking they won’t get a place but there are always many available.”

Holiday admits that Ashton doesn’t quite have the concept of the Easter egg hunt, observing the plastic eggs on the ground and wondering what to do with them. She figures by next year he’ll have it down pat. But he did have fun running from the Eggstravaganza bunny.

Whether the kids collected all the candy they could hunt or the parents caught that perfect photo moment, everyone has an excellent time at the annual event. That’s why the Eggstravaganza is a huge success every year.

—Jeanne C. Carbone