Easter planning under way

OTHELLO — During Monday’s regular meeting, the Othello City Council voted to approve the facility use agreement for the Othello Holiday Committee’s free community Easter egg hunt event and to waive the full event fee.

Mayor Shawn Logan introduced the facility use agreement.

“Looks like we're resurrecting the Easter egg hunt here again, and the holiday committee wants to hold that event,” he said.

Holiday Committee Manager Tania Morelos explained how the event, which will be completely free, came about. 

“A of couple of weeks ago we just decided, why not add another event? We're not busy, and decided we'd like to do a community Easter egg hunt,” Morelos said. “Since we're just kind of throwing this together a couple of months before, we're not going to make it that big. Although, it's going to be big, because it's going to be a community-wide, free event, just for ages ‘walking toddlers’ to sixth grade. So what we would like to do is host this on March 30 at Lions Park … I believe because it's a free event, we will most likely have a big turnout.”

The hunt will take place on the park’s baseball fields, with a separate section for each of the five age groups, walking toddlers, pre-k and kindergarteners, first and second-graders, third and fourth-graders and fifth and sixth-graders.

“We'll have committee members there at the entrances so that we can make sure that it's only the kids that are going in there,” Morelos said. “It's probably going to last no more than an hour. It's just going to be an egg hunt; there aren’t any other activities going on. We just kind of wanted to add something for our community for people that don't do much on Easter.”

The Holiday Committee is usually responsible for Othello’s annual Christmas Miracle on Main Street event. 

“We are going to have one grand prize for each age group,” Morelos said. “We've asked businesses to donate a bike for each age group, so whoever gets, basically the golden egg, will get that bike as a prize. Like I said, it's a free community event and we will just be asking for sponsors. We already ordered 6000 eggs, so hopefully you guys approve this tonight.”

Council member Corey Everett commented on the event’s $475 event fee.

“Can we do this like the Christmas time event and partner up for the event fee?” Everett asked. “This is a community event, it's for the kids, they’re only going to be in the park for a couple of hours. I have a hard time charging them $475 to bring a bunch of kids in to have a good time when they're not making any money from it. So that is what I would like to see, is the event fee be either dropped or the city partner with them or something.”

Everett then made a motion to waive the full event fee. Council member Genna Dorow gave her input on the fee.

“I think if we're partnering with them, I don't think we should waive the entire fee,” she said. “There should be some on them and some on us.”

The council voted on the motion, which passed 4 to 2. Dorow and council member Darryl Barnes opposed the motion. Council member Angel Garza was not present.

After waiving the fee, the council voted unanimously to approve the facility use agreement for the event. 

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.

    Othello Parks and Recreation Coordinator Valerie Hernandez, right, and Othello Public Works Director Curt Carpenter, left, cut the ceremonial ribbon on Othello’s upgrades to the Lions Park Athletic Complex last year. The city has worked hard to make sure the park is an asset to the community and opening the main portion of the park to this year's Easter Egg Hunt is part of that.
  

    A sign welcomes people to Othello’s Lions Park, which will be the venue for the March 30 Easter egg hunt, put on by the Othello Holiday Committee.