Lakeport >> For the Lakeport Rotary Club, Easter egg decorating is serious business. It has to be, when you’re boiling and dying nearly 3,000 eggs in one night. But after 91 years, the Rotarians have the procedure down to a science. The Friday before Easter Sunday, they take their 240 dozen eggs (for a total of 2,880 eggs) and load them into milk crates, which are then submerged in water and boiled in one fail swoop. Once that part is done, the dying commences. Again, entire crates are dipped and colored in large buckets of dye.
This is all for Lakeport Rotary’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt, which takes place at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeport each year. A few hours before the event, eggs are scattered throughout the grounds, distributed according to three different age groups: 0-3 years old, 4-8 years old and 9-12 years old. Then the hunt begins.
And it ends almost as quickly as you can say, “Happy Easter.”
This Sunday marks the 92nd year of the Easter egg hunt. The event is as old as the club itself, which began in 1925. It’s the longest-running event in the organization’s history, and while certain aspects have changed over the years, the number of eggs has always been the same — 2,880.
For the past nine decades they’ve also always included a small number of eggs called “special pay eggs.” These eggs are dyed a specific color, and at the end of the hunt, kids who find them receive $1. There are a handful of gold and silver eggs, too, for which $5 and $10 gold dollar coins are awarded. Rotary keeps the pay eggs a secret until the children are leaving. As they exit through the gates, club members look over the eggs and hand out the monetary prizes when they spot a pay egg.
The kids are, quite unexpectedly, thrilled. “Their little eyes light up,” said club member Carlos Fagundes.
The hunt is free to the public. It’s not a fundraiser and the club doesn’t gain anything by putting it on. But that’s never been a problem. Community service and giving without expectations, these are significant parts of Rotary’s purpose. And the event provides a time-honored Easter tradition for those children who may lack the resources to take part otherwise.
“There are kids, if we didn’t put on our free egg hunt, that probably wouldn’t have a egg hunt,” Fagundes said.
The Lakeport Rotary Easter Egg Hunt goes on every year rain or shine, and usually attracts between 300 and 400 participants. This year’s hunt takes place Sunday, April 16. The gates open at 1:15 p.m. and the begins at 1:30 p.m. The Lake County Fairgrounds are located at 401 Martin St. in Lakeport.
