BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Roughly 1,000 people showed up to Emerald Cove Park to participate in North of the River's annual Easter egg hunt.
“We break up the field that we have here into four different age groups for ages one through ten and we put out eggs and we pretty much let the kids go at it and let the kids find as many eggs as possible. In a lot of ways it's more like a race than a hunt, but that's what makes it so much fun for the kids,” said Jasmin Lobasso, superintendent of recreation and community services for North of the River.
The Easter egg hunt was the first egg hunt Deepa Konnur ever took her daughter Aria to.
“It was amazing to see her competitive spirit too, which we didn’t know she had in her at two and a half. She was like one, two, three, Easter egg hunt!” Konnur said.
After a countdown, all the children dashed through streamers to pick up as many eggs as they possibly could. The eggs were all filled with candy, and four of them had golden tickets in them that awarded their finder a special Easter basket. Egg hunt participant Robert Love has gone to the event his entire life, and was excited about the prospect of finding a golden ticket.
“I felt pretty good but I didn’t know if I was going to actually win it, because I had one of my cousins help me collect the eggs,” Love said.
Attending the event was a tradition for some families, like Richard Yebra, who has attended the event for the past eight years.
“It is great when they have an organized function like this, you’re not scrambling around. The only scramble is when these kids get out there and start getting the eggs,” Yebra said.
For Deepa Konnur’s family, the egg hunt was the first of many.
“Of course, I think until we are in this town we will always come for NOR events,” Konnur said.
