Following two years of COVID restrictions at Easter, which prevented the traditional holiday events from taking place, simultaneous Easter egg hunts were held Saturday at the Findley Lake Community Center and Alexander Findley Community Library.

The folks at the library hosted an Easter party, with an Easter egg hunt and egg dyeing.

“We haven’t been able to do anything these past two years, so we thought we would do something especially fun,” said library manager Cala Glatz .

Glatz and her assistant, Michele Varner, hid 90 plastic eggs throughout the library, including one “golden egg.” Each egg held candy and stickers and the “golden egg” held a winning ticket for a basket containing several items, including a notebook, bookmarks, candy and a coupon for a free book.

The children who attended the hunt scampered eagerly up and down the bookshelves, filling their paper bags with plastic eggs. The “golden egg” was harder to find, but when a girl named Claudia found it, everybody cheered.

“We tried to make it a little challenging,” Varner said. “The kids actually have to look for the eggs — we will probably be finding them for months to come.”

Just down the hallway, in the Community Center cafeteria, Findley Lake residents Shawna Dobson and Susan Skarsinski, along with three helpers, hosted a different Easter egg hunt. This event included coloring activities and lunch for the children.

Dobson and Skarsinski have been providing the event free of charge for six years, with the exception of 2020 when they were not permitted to do it. Some 2,000 eggs are strewn about the area, waiting to be discovered.

Most eggs contain a bit of candy, but the “golden eggs” contain winning tickets for one of the many baskets of goodies waiting in the cafeteria area, Skarsinski said.

“It always goes well,” she said. “There’s a lot of chaos, and the it’s done.”

About 60 children took part in the Easter egg hunt this year. “It’s a good family community event,” Dobson said.

Dobson noted that she and Skarsinski started the event after observing that many other Easter egg hunts only allow each child to find one egg and frequently charge an entrance fee. “We made it family friendly and free,” Dobson said. “There are plenty of eggs so that, no matter what, all of the kids will leave with something.”

The adults who were present also found the event to be a joyful one.

“It’s just nice for it to be back,” Deanna Walk said. “It’s good for the kids just to be around their peers and to celebrate the season. People need positive things like this.”