Gridley Lions Club member Jason Piazza holds the line as children prepare to search for thousands of hand-dyed Easter eggs during the annual hunt.

 

GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - It was a hopping Saturday as the Gridley Lions Club held its 48th annual Easter Egg Hunt April 4 at Gridley Manuel Vierra Park.

Lions and volunteers prepared 4,800 hard-boiled eggs for the event. Real eggs are selected for the event due to their organic nature, being easier on the environment than their plastic counterparts. Often eggs are trampled by excited youth who burst off the starting lines; crushed underfoot, real eggs simply decompose if missed during cleanup efforts.

Volunteers and club members arrived by 8:30 a.m. to hide the dyed eggs and cordon off hunting areas into age-appropriate sections for children.

The Easter egg hunt began promptly at 11 a.m., with Lion Mike Dahl providing the countdown via loudspeaker. As the final countdown began, local Cal Fire and Gridley Fire Department engines from Station 74 let their sirens wail and excited attendees added their voices.

“3, 2, 1, go!” echoed the park.

Ashlynn Bandy, left, Sarah Ramirez and Eileen Vera, who found a silver egg, attend the Gridley Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt, continuing a family tradition across generations.

Children burst off the starting lines and ricocheted across the park looking for eggs. During the hunt, volunteers roamed the various areas to ensure that egg seekers did not encounter older competition and to share a hint if a child needed direction.

Silver and gold eggs were hidden in the 6-7- and 8-9-year-old areas, whereas little hunters ages 5 and under received raffle tickets to be entered into a drawing to win a stuffed animal prize.

The metallic prize eggs were not the easiest to find. A silver egg remained unfound in the 8-9 age group section for quite some time after the main hunt had ended, as it had been stepped on and was therefore even more difficult to find.

Eileen Vera was one of the participants who found a silver egg and exchanged it for the prize of a plush cow. Vera, who is not from Gridley, was invited to the event by family friends after they learned she had never been to a public egg hunt.

“I think it’s fun,” said Vera, at first questioning the use of real eggs.

“I just didn’t know about the boiled eggs. I’m used to plastic ones with the candy,” said Vera. “But I liked finding the silver egg.”

Vera attended with Sarah Ramirez and her daughter Ashlynn, who were making final memories at the park this year.

“It’s my last time,” said Ashlynn, 9, with mixed emotions. She said she had been attending every year “since she was little” and has now reached the age cutoff.

Lion Mike Dahl leads the countdown as children gather for the start of the Easter Egg Hunt at Manuel Vierra Park.

For Ramirez, the event brought back a flood of positive emotions.

Ramirez gathered a small group to attend Saturday’s egg hunt, reaching out to Vera and other family members with children and encouraging them to come out to the event.

As she shared her own memories, she spoke with a smile.

“I have a picture of me; I was probably 4 or 5 years old,” said Ramirez, recalling her own past Lions Easter Egg Hunt. “I must have won something because they took a picture of me by the tennis courts for the paper,” she said.

Ramirez found herself in a full-circle moment, continuing to share the work of the Gridley Lions Club and volunteers with new generations.