Annual egg hunt draws children in Ephrata

EPHRATA - Three-year-old Serenity Lewis clutched her basket of plastic eggs as she ducked under the yellow tape.

Lewis was one of a crowd of children participating in Ephrata's egg hunt in Lions Park Saturday.

Jessica Lewis, Serenity's mother, said they've been coming to the event since she was a child, and her daughter was excited to hunt for the plastic eggs.

Jessica Lewis' experience wasn't unusual, Ephrata Rotary Club member Becky Long said, adding people had talked about coming to the event when they were children. She estimated the hunt was at least 30 years old.

"Most all of these parents that are here are saying they remember when they came here," she said.

All of the Ephrata service clubs, including the Kiwanis, the Rotary, the Moose Lodge and the Lions, helped put on the event, Long said.

"We had 3,000 eggs," she said. "Then we give out four prizes in each age group, because some of (the eggs) have little slips in them. Then we have two sparkle eggs, which are bigger prizes."

The event takes months of planning, and finishes in about five minutes, she said, adding the Kiwanis Key Club filled the plastic eggs with candy. The groups start putting the eggs in the park at about an hour and a half before the event.

Sitting near Serenity and Jessica, Owen Guzman pulled the plastic eggs open while his mother, Lorenda Guzman watched. She's come to the hunt about four times previously, since she has two other children.

"I don't think he knew what we were doing until we got out with the basket," she said. "They think it's fun."