The gym was transformed into a paradise for kids on March 15 at St. Augustine School as children constantly kept zigzagged from one activity to another.
Hosted by Word of Life Church the Eggstravagant Easter Egg Hunt attracted many families for an afternoon of fun.
Robyn McNalley, one of the parents, thoroughly enjoyed the event and believes that family focused community events like this one adds a lot to the town.
“It is a really fun event to come to,” she said. “It’s very family oriented. We’re just moving out here and we really noticed that Ponoka is full of family events like this. We enjoy it a lot and it helps us to be more connected with the community.”
The event offered a colouring contest, the Easter bunny, a jump house, Nintendo Wii video games, duck walks, face painting, egg rolling contests and a lot more.
The most popular place seemed to be the small petting zoo that was set up near the back of the gym. Children could pet puppies, goats, rabbits and hold baby chicks. Children were mesmerized by the energy of the puppies and held up baby chicks to their faces to take in how soft they were.
It was Kelly Gibson and her children’s first time attending the Eggstravagant Easter Egg Hunt and she thought the petting zoo was a great idea for the kids.
“It’s great, I’ve never been before,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun for the kids and I love the idea that they brought the animals.”
Throughout the day prizes were drawn for sundaes, chocolate and gift baskets which were handed out by the very enthusiastic Easter bunny.
The grand prize draw was for a portable cd player and MP3 which was won by Carson Westling.
Afterwards the children were guided outside for the Easter egg hunt.
The plastic eggs hidden around the playground were empty and kids collected them to turn them in for treats so that everyone could receive the same amount of chocolate and candy.
Rob McArthur was outside with a megaphone and started off the hunt and children bolted to the playground to find as many eggs as they could.
Shannon McArthur, organizer of the event, was pleased with the hard work of everyone who helped make the day a success.
“I think it went very well,” she said. “There were a lot of people here and the kids had a lot of fun. Everyone had really come together and I was really happy with it.”
Rob also believed the event went well and hopes to expand with it in the future.
“I think it was very successful,” he said. “We hope that this event will keep growing and we want to eventually make it so huge that we have hundreds and hundreds of kids come out. We definitely will be doing this again next year.”