LUCERNE — Crisp cool weather, bright sun, puffy clouds, a ton of plastic colored Easter eggs on the green lawn of Alpine Park in Lucerne on Easter Sunday afternoon. A crowd of children, with baskets at the ready, posed to collect the most eggs ever collected before by pre-teens.
The day before the event, which was organized by Wonderland Sweet Shop in Lucerne, a group of locals cleaned up the park, making sure there was no drug paraphernalia lying around. “We want the children to have fun in a safe environment,” said Dani Primas, owner of Wonderland.
Starting at 2 p.m., a crowd of about 60 children stood on the park pavement ready to rush the grass littered with colorful plastic Easter eggs.
Ten-year-old Lexxis Gray said, “This is really cool, but I don’t know who the Easter bunny is.” She shook her blonde hair and pointed to the tall bunny character who was handing out hugs. The bunny was played by Anthony Primas, husband of Dani, but didn’t let anyone know his true identity.
Primas enlisted the help of local children to set up for the event. Landon Gray, 12, said, “It’s cool. Pretty fun. I had fun hiding the eggs and watching the little kids find them.”
Certain eggs contained a dollar bill, others a coupon for a free Foster Freeze and others a chance to spin the bunny wheel for more prizes.
Rebecca Mayberry and young Hannah Delisle found eggs to the delight of one-and-a-half year old Delisle. “We were going to go all the way to Willits to find an egg hunt, so it’s nice to see something here in Lucerne.”
Some parents collected more than the three egg limit. They seemed overjoyed to fill their children’s baskets with the colorful eggs.
No matter the rules, it was fun. Exciting even.
Adrian Zamora, 10, “This is amazing, but I only got one egg,” he said feigning sadness.
E.J. Crandell, District 3 Lake County Supervisor, participated in the Lucerne hunt.
“I love how the community got together, planned, prepared and followed through for the community,” Crandell said. “The only unfortunate thing is, the eggs aren’t hard boiled, or else I would have collected and eaten lots of them!”
Lucerne wasn’t the only place around the lake to host Easter egg hunts.
Send Rover on Over Doggie Day Care in Lakeport hosted an egg hunt for dogs. Owner Valeri Stallings scattered empty plastic eggs around her giant outdoor dog run along with three eggs stuffed with Vienna sausages. Each dog had their own individual hunt time for the three stuffed eggs. At the onset, the dog was then introduced to the smell of the sausages, then the dog was hidden from view while Stallings placed the eggs in three nests.
Twenty dogs participated. One dog—an 8-month-old chocolate lab owned by Joe Lundergreen—had been trained for scent retrieval, zoomed right to the three nests. Kane, a 6-month-old German Shepherd owned by Rachael Walsh, needed to be led to the sausage-filled eggs. “I bring Kane here for boarding and training,” said Kane’s owner Rachael Walsh.
Little Chloe, a 6-month-old Pomeranian Chihuahua mix, skipped like a little red fairy around the eggs, smelling plants, the soil, everything but the sausage eggs. Parents Rochelle Thomas and Jacob Bogner looked on in delight. Fond of Send Rover on Over Doggie Day Care, they brought Stallings a basket full of wine and chocolates.
After the dog egg hunt, Stallings went to the Laujor Estate Winery adult Easter egg hunt in Kelseyville, where scores of adults rushed the vineyards like children to find the golden, silver and bronze eggs. “We love the winery, the view,” she said. “There was a lot of people there, about 75 people. It was a fun happy festive event held in the vineyard. I was busy eating my jelly beans and not paying attention to who won what, because I didn’t win.”
Meanwhile in Lakeport, the 93rd annual Easter egg hunt at the Lake County Fairgrounds was sponsored the Lakeport Rotary Club and was deemed a great success.
Supervisor Crandell also participated in the Saturday tribal Easter egg hunt for the Robinson Rancheria tribe.
“It was an enjoyable event,” he said. “The children received baskets, food and engaged in an Easter egg hunt on the same hillside that it was conducted when I was a youth in the early eighties.”
Tribal education director Fawn Rave, said Crandell, “has a unique talent for organizing events for our tribal community. The gift is obviously passed down from her grandmother, Bernadine Tripp, who reinvigorated Robinson Rancheria to the status it is today in the late 70s and early 80s. The education staff is always prepared and accommodating to community events, and councilman Jaime Boggs offered the opening prayer for our people to share this peaceful event.”
Out of the many egg hunts around the lake, Crandell referred back to Lucerne and said, with pride in his voice, “This is just what Lucerne needs!”
