PALM COAST, Fla. – Easter was still a week away but families couldn’t contain their excitement for the annual Egg’Stravaganza hosted by the City of Palm Coast’s Parks and Recreation Department.
A must-do tradition for families in Palm Coast, dressed in everything from Easter Sunday finest to face-painted easter eggs and bunny ears, kids of all ages spent the morning playing on a variety of Easter-themed activities and burning off energy as parents snapped commemorative photos before heading in to get one with the star of the show, the Easter Bunny.
Creating fun artwork with the kids, Xani Pinto of P-Squared Artistry and Doodle Prints loved the chance to create holiday themed keepsakes for families.
“I do handprint art. It is super fun, the kids love it, and the parents get to take it home and keep the memory forever,” said Pinto.
Lending a hand, teacher Kiersten Patton, owner of Light and Dark Creations, a 3-D print shop and gemstone jeweler, was enthusiastic about event.
“We’re a fairly new business and we’re looking to get our name out,” said Patton. “This was an event that is close by where we live because we are locals. It’s been a really fun time.”
As a local she appreciates the city’s schedule of positive community activities.
“I think it’s very important that they come out and offer these kinds of events so that our community comes together, especially on a day like today,” she said.
Fishing for prizes in the mini pool, where Beachside Community Church and Calvary Church had set up a kids cove of activities, mom Lisa Rice shared her 4-year-old son Lucas Rice had been looking forward to the Egg’Stravaganza all week.
“We’re here with our next door neighbors having the best day,” said Rice. “We all need somewhere that we can all come together and just have nice times together in a safe place, and this is definitely it.”
“He was so excited. We’ve been looking forward to it all week. He was ready to dress up in his button up shirt. He wanted his Easter clothes on,” she said.
It was a big day for staff in the parks and recreation department, who had been busy all week preparing for the event according to Geena Catalano, Community Recreation Supervisor.
“We work with various community organization to have their participation. They provide activities for the kids, arts and crafts, Easter eggs. We have kids area that has many different yard games, food trucks, and also pirates,” she said.
“Can’t go wrong with pirates and a pirate ship. And we also have photos with the Easter Bunny. They are free which is great and we offer souvenir Polaroid photos for the families.”
“It definitely warms our hearts. We are a big family in parks and rec as a whole, and this event, it takes a village. We have a very awesome caring village that does really enjoy putting together this event,” she said.
“There’s a lot of arts and crafts and decor that we put together by hand and we stuff 20,000 eggs as a parks and rec team. We had some volunteers from the Flagler Schools district which is great. We really enjoy it. It’s all about the kids and we know that, we see it, we love it.”
The team added 20 more golden eggs to this year’s hunt and they were hidden throughout the park.
“They could be redeemed at our front tent for a small bunny keychain prize,” shared Catalano.
Next up for the city’s parks and recreation team is the “Celebrate Trails Day” on April 26th, at Waterfront Park.
“It’s actually National Trails Day so we’re honoring our trails system which is a big highlight to Palm Coast, then Food Truck Tuesday is actually next week, and then the concert series is coming back in May,” she said. “All of the events are free. The food is for a cost, but entry to all the events we have coming up is free.”
For a full list of upcoming events, visit www.palmcoast.gov/events.
