'Egg'citing finish to annual Easter hunts

It took the Carson Valley Active 20-30 Club members at least 20 hours to fill 8,000 eggs and less than 20 seconds for around 200 children to find them at the annual Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday.

The egg hunt has been a Carson Valley spring tradition since 1936, where thousands of eggs, hard boiled and plastic, are scattered throughout Lampe Park in Gardnerville. The hunt is divided into three age groups, 0-3-year-olds, 4-7 year-olds, and 8-11 year-olds.

This year, due to inflation the eggs for the hunt were all plastic eggs.

“We usually do some of both, but with the cost of eggs being so expensive, we decided to go the cost effective way and do plastic instead,” said Carson Valley 20/30 Club Public Relations Chairman Cody Burkhauser. “Plus, it’s easier in terms of keeping the park clean. We are very thankful to Parks & Recs for allowing us to use the park every year and we want to do our part and maintain it.”

Carson Valley 20/30 Club Vice President and Chairman of the Egg Hunt, Dustin Anderson said he remembers participating in the egg hunt as a kid and to be on the other side of it as an adult brings back much of the same feelings and new ones.

“It’s all about watching the kids have fun,” he said. “I remember doing this as a kid and always looking forward to it and getting to watch that now on the other side is a really cool experience.”

Club member Chris Wiens said it’s about giving back to the community.

The 20-30 Club is made of men in their 20s and 30s, which serves the community by providing to underprivileged youth in the Carson Valley, while building friendships and developing leadership skills through hands on experience and events in the community.

The club mees 7 p.m. Wednesdays in the old Gardnerville Jailhouse. The club’s next event is the Carson Valley days parade. Visit Carson Valley Active 20-30 Club No. 85 on Facebook for more information.

Trinity Lutheran Preschool held their annual egg hunt Friday where 1,200 eggs were hidden throughout the facility.

“It’s always an event we look to that sort of ends the lessons we learn during this time,” said Trinity Lutheran Preschool Assistant Director Samantha Tierney.

Tierney said the weeks leading up to Easter, each classroom’s lesson plans taught what Easter is about through spring and new life.

“Each class has been raising their butterflies which helps them understand a new life cycle and rebirth,” said Tierney.

In one of her lessons, Tierney filled plastic eggs with different symbols of Easter.

“I had a cross in one, representing that Jesus died on a cross, one had a rock to represent the rock that was rolled away from the tomb and another was empty which represented that the tomb was empty after he had risen,” she said.