Hundreds of eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny are just waiting to be found at the Third Annual Eggstravagent Easter Egg Hunt on April 11.
The event, hosted by Word of Life, will take place at the Ponoka Composite High School gymnasium at 1 p.m. and offers kids and their families, a great day to get together a celebrate Easter.
The whole day is free of charge for everyone. There will be baby chicks and bunnies for the children to see and pet, jumphouses, mini-soccer, cookies and juice, and the Easter Bunny will be there to visit with kids.
Nationally acclaimed children’s author Dian Layton will also be there to share her stories with the children and their parents and will be entertaining to all. Layton engages children in her stories and uses multiple colourful hats to introduce colourful characters. Layton, also known as ‘Hugga Wugga’ has performed internationally for over 25 years in many different settings. Her stories are fun, lively and full of humour and are enjoyable for both children and adults alike.
After the storytelling the kids will go outside by age group with the baskets they are given and hunt for the eggs. MacArthur says they have almost 1,000 eggs that need to be found and that each child gets the same amount of candy.
A special Easter egg hunt for toddlers will happen separately.
Rob McArthur, pastor of Word of Life and an organizer of the event, believes that this event will make for a great time for all families who come out and feels it is important to have this event in Ponoka.
“Our community needs strong families. Happy moms, happy dads, and happy kids. The more that we as a community can offer our families, the stronger Ponoka will be,” said McArthur. “Secondly, there is no other event like this happening in our community over the Easter holiday. As a church we have hosted Good Friday services and Easter Sunday services, but until recently had not done a lot for our children over Easter. Kids love Easter.”
McArthur says that the organizers are expecting more than 200 kids to come out to the event and believes that they are more than prepared for it.
The grand door prize that is given away is a brand new Nintendo Wii with controllers and games.
McArthur says that he is impressed with the community’s support in helping make this event successful in Ponoka.
“Once again, community businesses have lined up to offer their support,” he said. “It is nice to know that the business community believes in events like this.”
McArthur was also pleased with the many people who have stepped up and volunteered with the organizing of this event because they felt it was a great thing to have in the town.
“As a testimony to the validity of this event, we have had several people, who attended last year’s event, step forward to volunteer their time doing anything from putting up posters, sorting candy bags, etc.,” he said. “People who just loved the event so much that they wanted to be a part of it.”
McArthur believes that the Word of Life church has found a great opportunity to serve Ponoka in a fun and community-minded way and, as a father himself, is also looking forward to bringing his kids to the event.
“Our church puts a strong emphasis on loving our community. Our motto is Love God, Love People, Love Life,” he said. “We see the Eggstravagent Easter Egg Hunt as an opportunity to do something great for the people of Ponoka and County…especially the little people. Secondly,…it is fun!”
Registration starts at 1 p.m. but for those wishing to pre-register their children or find more information they can call Shannon McArthur at 403-783-8826 or the Word of Life Church office at 403-783-5659.