The thrill of the egg hunt

With bright colored eggs gleaming in their eyes, children of all ages raced through the grass at Saturday’s spring egg hunt at Pheasant Fields Farm in Silverdale.

What was originally going to be an Easter egg hunt on the day before Easter, was called off due to rain and renamed a spring egg hunt. After a farm tour, children were separated into age groups and each group took turns hunting for eggs. The oldest age group, 10-12, were given more of a challenge in their search for candy-filled eggs which were hidden throughout a maze of trees.

“I’m pleased with the turnout,” said Nikki Johanson, owner of Pheasant Fields Farm, on Saturday. “I wanted folks to have something to do and something to see.”

The Silverdale Dandy Lions donated their plastic eggs and with the large donation of candy from Costco (13 large assorted bags), members of the Central Kitsap Community Council (CKCC) filled the eggs with not only candy, but some contained coupons for a free Jr. Frosty from Wendy’s and tickets to events at the farm including WildWoods and cornfield mazes in the fall. Also in the eggs were tickets to prizes which included baskets filled with coloring books, bubbles, sand buckets, stuffed animals and more.

CKCC board member Naomi Pursel says it took a team effort to fill all 4,000-plus eggs and says the experience was “bizarre” because it had been years since many of the board members had filled eggs.

“After the CKCC retreat, we all filled eggs,” Pursel said. “From (Kitsap County Commissioner) Patty Lent sitting on the floor filling eggs to Hank Mann-Sykes, everyone participated.”

The CKCC decided to help sponsor the event after it heard that there wasn’t going to be an egg hunt sponsored in the Central Kitsap area.

“Commissioner Lent wanted to make sure something was done here in Central Kitsap and asked the Central Kitsap Community Council to help out,” said CKCC board member Dale King.

Johanson said that after the success of this year’s event, she would like to do it again next year.

“If we call it a spring egg hunt, we can do it anytime and that’s when the farm really opens up,” she said. “It’s fun seeing the kids have a good time.”

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