BRAD HORN/Nevada Appeal Children race to gather Easter eggs during the Jaycees' 29th annual Easter egg hunt at Governor's Field Sunday. The 25,000-egg hunt is the largest in the state.
Gale-force winds blew clumps of pink-and-green Easter grass around Governor's Field like tumbleweeds, but couldn't snuff out the spirit of the thousand kids gathered to grab eggs at the annual Jaycees' Easter egg hunt on Sunday.
Clutching baskets, grocery bags, beach buckets or whatever they could find, the children stood behind lines of orange tape, jockeying for position before the 1 p.m. start.
Ten-month-old Skylinn Russell was down on his hands and knees like a linebacker, his mom, Shandah, trying her best to hold him back.
Drool came from the bottom of his lip as he eyed the colorful eggs. He made another attempt, a straightforward lunge toward the prizes, and had to be gently held back by his orange, hooded sweatshirt.
"Yup," said Shandah. "I think he's ready."
Standing out in the field facing a rowdy line of 8- and 9-year-olds, volunteer Liz Tait refused to be intimidated by the coming stampede of feet and hands.
Tait's nerves of steel have been earned.
"It was worse when the parents were allowed out on the field with the kids," she said, her head nodding knowingly, as though retelling a particularly personal war story.
Tait, who moved from Carson City to Pahrump, still makes the effort to come up every year to help out with the hunt, Nevada's largest.
As the starter yelled "Go!" the wind kicked up, the orange tape flew, and the sprint was on.
As though shot out of a giant chocolate and candy-powered cannon, the wave of children came like a dam burst. They bounced off one another, tripping over their baskets, and pushing against the wind.
Up and down they bobbed, picking the Easter harvest like heavily caffeinated farm workers, foraging for prizes and eggs.
Jeremy McQueary, 5, of Dayton attributed his success to his speed. "I'm fast," he said, holding one of the special prizes, a basketball set.
His father, Larry Woodington, said the Easter Bunny had delivered cookies and fruit snacks to their house.
Smart move, as the initial processed-sugar rush of a Peep or a chocolate bunny is often shirt-lived, while the fructose burst of natural sugar may give egg-gatherers an edge in the critical final yards of a hunt.
The race continued in the parking lot among the adults with several minor fender-benders resulting from people rushing to get out of the windstorm and home to their warm Easter nests.
n Contact reporter Peter Thompson at pthompson@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1215.
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