Sisters' annual hunt egg-citing for all

Threatening clouds gave way to sunshine as hundreds of ambitious children from infant to 11 years old awaited the siren for the 37th annual Sisters Easter Egg Hunt to begin in Creekside Park.

The park overflowed with 4,000 colorful plastic eggs hidden in the grass, behind trees, on rocks, and nestled in the pine needles.

The Easter Egg Hunt was co-sponsored by the Sisters-Camp Sherman and Cloverdale fire department volunteer associations. Early on Easter morning they hid the eggs and divided the park into four areas, one for each age group.

Sisters-Camp Sherman firefighter student Kyle Sharek and volunteer firefighter Hayden Jones organized this year's egg hunt.

"This was fun, especially because the volunteers from last year left really good notes to follow," said Sharek. "And we really appreciate all the help from Cloverdale fire department."

And of course, the Easter Bunny was on hand to delight the children as they waited in line to greet him and receive a treat from his basket.

The 1 p.m. siren went off without a hitch and the hunt began. Older children raced over hills and dales as fast as rabbits, and the toddlers took their time picking them up with eggstra-special care.

Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Chief Roger Johnson smiled when the hunt ended in less than 10 minutes, although it took lots of volunteers almost two hours to hide all the eggs.

"This is a fantastic event that brings the community together," said Johnson. "It was awesome how the weather broke and the sun came out when it was time to begin."

The egg-citement continued as some of the kids shrieked for joy after finding a golden egg.

"This year we have over twenty golden eggs which are the prize eggs," said Sharek.

Young Joslyn Moyer was all smiles when she brought her golden egg up to the picnic table full of prizes and picked her favorite, a stuffed elephant.

Shay Rice found so many eggs, she decided to use the math she learned in school to count each one, as she carefully took them out of her Easter basket and lined them up in a row.

"I am counting all the colored eggs, so I know how many I found," said young Moyer, who had her aunt Samantha helping her.

Julia Hottel, a young toddler, tried to hold up her full basket of eggs as a family friend's young son shared a few of his eggs with her.

"I got all these, but some of them aren't mine," said Hottel very seriously, as she glanced at the young boy attempting to toss more of his eggs into her basket.

The sunshine held out for entire egg hunt, and there were plenty of happy faces and heavy Easter baskets to see as the egg-stravaganza came to an end.