Jaycees prepare for annual pub crawl along the bunny trail

The Carson City Jaycees will be making the rounds at local watering holes Friday night collecting money to buy eggs and prizes for its 29th annual Easter Egg Hunt for kids.

"We have a few ladies dress up in very tasteful bunny outfits and collect donations from the patrons," says Wendy Keller-Smith, president of the organization and chairwoman of the egg hunt.

"We'll go to any bar that will have us," she laughed. "This year we're hiding 25,000 eggs and hopefully raising enough money to buy prizes like bicycles and toys."

Hitting every dive, saloon, bar, lounge and tavern can seem like an enormous task, but bunnies are known for their feral wit and keen instincts.

The cotton-tailed crew follow the tracks left by other rabbits.

"First you've got your after-work crowd and then your dinner crowd," says Keller-Smith. "They're pretty kind and generous."

"Then, there's the late-night crowd which can sometimes get a little bit ..."

"Colorful?"

"Drunk," she said. "It can get pretty hectic."

Keller-Smith's been involved in the Easter Egg hunt since she was 12, growing up around the event that her father started.

They still boil the eggs in her father's back yard, in a cluster of giant vats. Help comes from the Nevada Air National Guard, the Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada and other organizations.

"Boiling 25,000 eggs in one day is not an easy feat," she said.

The hunt, which takes place on Governor's Field on March 27, will go on rain, snow or shine, according to Keller-Smith.

"But if it does snow, we won't make the mistake of putting out a bunch of chocolate-covered eggs like we did one year," she laughed.

The hunt draws upwards of 2,000 kids annually and includes 200 special prize eggs. Ronald McDonald is a regular at the hunt. So is the Easter Bunny.

"I'd like to thank Taiyo America, an ink manufacturer here in Carson city," says Keller-Smith. "They've really helped us a lot this year."

The Carson City Jaycees is a young men and women's organization for networking and making charitable contributions to the community, primarily through the egg hunt and also their "Happy Feet" program, where they raise money to buy shoes for needy children.

n Contact reporter Peter Thompson at pthompson@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1215.