A fun-filled Easter: Holiday weekend offers plenty of activities for Grant County residents
Published 10:00 am Tuesday, April 11, 2023
- Children fan out at the city park in Dayville in search of Easter eggs on Saturday, April 8, 2023.
Grant County residents had a multitude of options for fun holiday activities over Easter weekend.
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Scores of children made their way to Grant Union High School in hopes of landing a massive haul of Easter eggs and other prizes on Saturday, April 8, at the annual Easter egg hunt organized by the John Day Fire Department.
Children and their parents were treated to free hot dogs or hamburgers courtesy of the fire department, as well as fire truck rides and greetings from the Easter Bunny. Participants were also given raffle tickets for a chance to win an MP3 player or wireless headphones.
Egg hunters were separated into age groups for the hunt, with the youngest being 0-3 years old and the oldest being 7-11 years old.
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John Day firefighter (and city council member) Ron Phillips said the tradition of the John Day Fire Department organizing an Easter egg hunt goes as far back as he can remember. In fact, he recalls partaking in Easter egg hunts organized by the group when he was a child.
“Back in the ’50s they were doing it,” he said. “It was held at the old park behind Kam Wah Chung. COVID was the only thing that shut us down, and that wasn’t our doing.”
Phillips said donations from community members along with contributions from the fire department made the hunt possible.
“The donations of people are so giving and generous … oh, it’s terrific,” he said.
All told, there were some 600-700 plastic eggs, three dozen hard-boiled eggs and over 50 larger prizes like toys littered around the Grant Union football field for kids to find. Prizes and funds that aren’t used for an egg hunt are carried over for the following year’s event, according to Zachary Shoop of the John Day Fire Department.
Although the event is organized and put on by the John Day Fire Department, Shoop characterized the Easter egg hunt as a community effort.
“If we didn’t have the community donations and all the things we get from the families and local stores and businesses, we wouldn’t be able to put this on every year,” he added.
The city of Dayville held a full slate of Easter festivities on Saturday.
Dayville’s Easter celebration kicked off with the eighth annual Bunny Hop 5k run, which began and ended at the Dayville Community Hall.
First place winners were Carson Thompson of Dayville in the 0-13 age group, Eliza Bailey of Canyon City in the 14-26 group, Steven Stashevsky in the 27-49 group and Barry Drew in the 50-plus group.
The Easter egg hunt had approximately 75 hunters made up of kids in sixth grade and younger, with a special hunt for parents. The Dayville Cafe donated 22 ice cream sandwiches for all who found a painted Easter rock. The rocks were painted by cafe employee Cara Knowles.
Among the eggs being hunted by the kids were 12 golden eggs distributed among the four age groups. Kids who managed to find one of the golden eggs received special Easter baskets.
Amy Stiner, the executive director of the South Fork John Day River Watershed Council, provided the baskets for the lucky golden egg finders.
Other Easter festivities around the county included an egg-coloring session at the John Day Fire Hall on Friday, an Easter egg hunt at the Blue Mountain Care Center in Prairie City on Friday, an Easter egg hunt in Mt. Vernon (with fire truck rides) on Saturday and the annual John Day Elks Lodge egg hunt at the Seventh Street Sports Complex on Saturday.