Egg hunt plan hatched
LOREN BENOIT/Press Idaho Central Credit Union business development officer Roman Kleng places a filled Easter egg into a box Thursday at Post Falls City Hall.
Idaho Central Credit Union employees Roman Kleng, left, Corey Koski, center, and Kelly Hagen stuff over 500 eggs with candy at Post Falls City Hall in preparation for Post Fall's Easter Egg Hunt Extravaganza on April 20 at Q'emiln Park. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Post Falls city employees, volunteers, high school students and local businesses sponsors have filled around 8,000 eggs, as of Thursday, for this year's Post Falls Easter Egg Hunt Extravaganza on April 20 at Q'emiln Park. Around 16,000 plus eggs will be distributed at the hunt. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
By KAYE THORNBRUGH
Staff Writer
The Post Falls Parks and Recreation Department is preparing for the second Easter Egg Hunt Extravaganza on Saturday, April 20, at Q’emiln Park in Post Falls. The event is free and open to the public.
“Last year was sheer chaos,” said Wade Meyer, recreation coordinator for the city of Post Falls. “It’s a bigger undertaking than people realize.”
For three weeks leading up to the egg hunt, city employees, volunteers, high school students and local businesses sponsoring the event work together to fill more than 16,000 plastic eggs with candy.
Volunteers have filled about 8,000 eggs so far. Meyer said that city employees have even taken boxes of eggs to their desks at City Hall and continued to fill them while working, during the day and through the night shift.
“I’ve been grateful for all the people who wanted to help out,” Meyer said, adding that he was surprised by the volunteers’ enthusiasm.
Volunteers from Idaho Central Credit Union (ICCU), a sponsor of the event, stuffed more than 500 eggs on Thursday.
“At Idaho Central Credit Union, we love volunteering and sponsoring things out in the community,” said Roman Kleng, business development officer with ICCU. “We’re just trying to make the Easter egg hunt a success.”
As many as 1,500 children are expected to participate in the egg hunt, Meyer said — and there will be plenty of eggs to go around.
“It’s like a minefield of eggs,” he said with a laugh.
The egg hunt begins Saturday, April 20, at 1 p.m. sharp. Participants will be separated into six divisions, based on their age group, from toddlers up to age 11. Each group will have about 10 minutes to gather eggs — though Meyer noted that the kids usually managed to snatch up all eggs in sight in much less time than that.
Meyer said that the egg hunt will be more accessible than last year. Separate divisions are available for children who have special needs or mobility needs.