While chocolate eggs and bunnies have been in stores for a few weeks, children in Grand Forks will have more reason to get into the mood before this Easter.
Grand Forks’ River Valley Community Church will be hosting the Community Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow at City Park at 10 a.m., complete with free activities for young ones.
“There will be games, puppet shows, activities and a petting zoo for children 12 years and under,” said Rachel Warriner, who oversees the church children's ministries. “We really believe that kids are valuable and we just want to love on kids and their families and provide something for kids to do that day, where they can come and have fun.”
After people register, there will be a puppet show and then the children will be split into age groups to begin to hunt for the candy eggs, which will be placed inside plastic eggs.
“Five years and under will go to one section and six to 12 will go to a different section where they’ll be able to find the Easter eggs,” Warriner explained, adding that people can leave after the hunt but they can also stay to enjoy the other activities – lawn bowling, face painting, fishing, along with the petting zoo.
The fact that Saturday is the day before Easter Sunday adds to the timeliness of the egg hunt.
“We believe Easter is a very important time of the year for us because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; it’s a huge time in our Christian history to celebrate and it’s something we celebrate yearly so this is just another way for us to not only celebrate as a family but involve the community in that celebration because a lot of people like chocolate and kids love to search for things,” explained husband and church pastor Gabe Warriner.
“Many of the families in our church have Easter egg hunts, so it’s just a great way to involve the community in the celebration,” he said.
There will also be an Easter egg hunt at Christina Lake on Easter Sunday at the Christina Lake Welcome Centre at 1 p.m.