Once again, folks will be trekking to the Columbia County Fairgrounds on Saturday, March 30, to enjoy an Easter tradition that has become a beloved family event.
The mEGGa Egg Hunt begins at 11 a.m., and kids of all ages will be hunting for chocolaty treats throughout the vast fields of the fairgrounds.
Gates open at 10:30 a.m. and close at 12:30 p.m.
“We have other activities on the property for kids to do after the hunt,” Heather Epperly, event organizer, said. “We have a coloring contest, we have our Plant a Seed that we have every year. We have the 4-H petting zoo.”
The hunt will take place in different fields, depending on the age of the participants.
Starting at 11 a.m., kids will be out in the fairground fields hunting for chocolates and other candy goodies that will be enclosed in plastic packages.
It takes a lot of time, a lot of sponsors, and many volunteers to pull off this event each year.
“Sponsors are really what makes the event possible,” Epperly said. “Our two main sponsors are the Samuel S. Johnson Foundation and Heather Epperly Agency, Inc. (American Family Insurance).”
Epperly said the mEGGa Egg Hunt has been going on for over two decades.
“Evelyn Hudson, the original founder of the egg hunt, did great set up and prep work, so she passed that along to me,” Epperly said, noting that planning for the event starts around November.
The event was not held in 2020 because of the surge in the COVID-19 virus. The 2021 event was strictly a drive-thru egg hunt.
The regional transportation system, CC Rider, is going to make it easier to get to and from this year’s egg hunt.
“One of the things that we are really promoting this year is you can ride the CC Rider bus,” she said. “You can park at McBride School, then ride the Rider bus out to the event, so you don’t have to park in the field, where it could be muddy if we have rainy weather.”
CC Rider buses, until 1 p.m., will bring event goers back to McBride.
Epperly noted, “The really cool thing that we’re doing this year is we have two bunnies on each of the buses … once all the buses come, then those bunnies will get off the bus and they’ll walk around the fairgrounds.”
Part of the fun is to take photos of the bunnies in the gazebo.
“I think it’s a great family event,” she said. “It’s more than just an Easter egg hunt.”
