As we approached the front door to head outside to pile the kids into a wagon for a walk over to the rodeo grounds this past Saturday morning, my wife suggested to the kids that they should wear their rain boots.
My competitive nature kicked in and I quickly calculated how bulky rain boots might slow down the kids in their quest to run down their share of plastic Easter eggs. But yes, it had been wet all week and more than likely it was going to be muddy in those Skirvin Park fields behind the rodeo grandstands.
When we approached the area, I noticed that the activities had all been moved further south.
Earlier in the week, Frolic and Rodeo board member Chris Workman drove over the grounds to check out the grounds. Sure enough, it was pretty wet in the area near the picnic tables where the 3 and under group had hunted for their eggs last year.
“I was like, oh, we’re gonna have to start the 0-3 (age group) up a little bit further, you know, a little further south,” he said. “So I was already planning on that.”
Then Saturday morning arrived and Workman was the first one out there. He saw that it was still wet — too wet to have little kids running around in it.
“I kept driving and it was wet, wet, wet, wet — all the way the whole back of the grandstands, the whole grassy area,” Workman said. “Where we had it last year was all still literally half an inch to an inch of standing water on it. I just thought there’s no way we’re having an Easter egg hunt in that — the parents will kill me.”
So, Workman got out of his truck and started walking. He trekked all the way down to the trees and all the way back.
“My shoes got wet from the grass but it was solid,” he said.
So, that’s how it all got moved south — “so kids can be on solid ground and not be swimming in the water as they’re looking for eggs.”
Of course if they did have the Easter egg hunts in water, the kids would have no trouble finding them. Plastic eggs float.
Workman said the Frolic counted 205 kids up to age 12 that participated in the Easter Egg hunts and probably another 40 teens and adults that went into the rodeo arena for the Mud Hunt.
The latter group included several teens, a few that got really muddy to try to win a contest, but there were also some adults out there searching for the eggs that had cash stuffed inside (my wife was among them but she struck out on finding any money).
“Frolic and Rodeo board members and volunteers stuffed all the eggs over two nights,” Workman said. “Then we had a full force of volunteers spreading them out (hiding the eggs).”
It’s the second year that the Easter egg hunt has been staged at the rodeo grounds. The Frolic and Rodeo organization took it over last year.
“I think overall it was a good time; I heard a lot of positive comments,” Workman said. “And we stayed right on schedule so that by 10:30 or 10:35, we were doing the Mud Hunt and by 11:30, I was gone and everything was cleaned up.”
Of course, there was another six hours over the weekend washing all of the plastic eggs before placing them in plastic bags to be stored until next year.
This year’s event featured around 8,000 total eggs — a couple thousand less than the 10,000 that had been advertised. It’s a long story but let’s just say that the Frolic had to buy 4,000 plastic eggs at the last minute.
I’ll end on this note — If anybody finds bags with a whole bunch of plastic eggs inside, reach out to Workman.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).