Sun — and kids — come out for Edmonds egg hunt

Lara Alexander was there to take photos during Edmonds’ annual egg hunt at City Park Saturday morning. The event was sponsored by Sound Women’s Care and Edmonds Parks & Recreation with support from Nama’s Candy Store, the Rotary Clubs of Edmonds and Snohomish County Fire District 1, which brought fire trucks for children to sit on.

  1. This reminds me of ancient history when in Asia and India, the egg represented the belief that we had to be resposible for our own actions and reincarnation. In Germany and Scandinavia they were offerings to the Goddess in exchange for blessings or wishes. As Christianity gained power and Pagan practices were declared illegal, the eggs had to be hid, so the authorities to be couldn’t find them. Over time they became a child’s game.

    The Easter Bunny is another is another common visitor at Easter with deep roots in Pagan pratices. The Easter Bunny was the first to present the Goddess of Fertility with a colored egg. She was so impressed she ordered her hares and rabbits to deliver eggs to the worlds childrens every spring.

    Down at the City Parks you can see where many of these Pagan practices still exist. They are called Egg Hunts, careful not to incorporate any religion, but they do. Wiccans, who also celebrate Eostre with eggs and Bunnies are all over this. Athiestists enjoy the fact their children get free entertainment, candy and the Easter Bunny, at the City’s expense, and Agnostist’s are running to the City parks. In the mean time, Christian’s are wondering why we are having city furlough days, cutbacks, and possible layoffs.

    Last Saturday, over 400 children went through the doors at Edmonds Lutheran Church. There were no big firetrucks, or a live Easter Bunny, or Face Painting. What was there was Eric Ode, a wonderful singer/songwriter who performs all over Washington, including every weekend at Remllinger Farms in Carnation in the late Spring and Summer. Check him out at http://WWW.ericode.com. You will find 11,000 eggs carefully filled with candy, toys and stickers, reflecting a Christian’s belief in Easter. Children were happy and content as they found golden eggs that said “toy” or “basket”; over 200 golden eggs for 400 children, the odds were good. For the children that didn’t get a golden egg, we had “random bags” stuffed with the same things that were in the baskets, just not in a basket. They were handed out. We also had 60 stuffed animals, 50 punch balls, and 100 beach balls. Every child had a chance to receive something, if they said they didn’t get a golden egg. If a child showed up late or didn’t get enough eggs, three bags of eggs were held back. Sure enough, those eggs were used. No one needed to leave dissappointed.

    What’s the difference between a City hunt and a Church hunt? First, the Church hunt doesn’t come out of tax payer dollars. Second, the Church hunt is enjoying their freedom of Religion with their own manpower, using their own volunteers. We use our own grounds, we don’t interfere with other’s lives. We put a personal touch into what we believe in and enjoy what we are doing. Children leave happy and parents have smiles on their faces. We don’t need to advertise a life size bunny, that’s not our style. We advertise love and life with the knowledge that Jesus Christ is alive in our community. And the best thing is, it doesn’t cost a penny.

  2. It sounds like the the Edmonds Lutheran Church also made this a fun day for kids.

    You bring up a good point that has been raised before. How much did this cost the City of Edmonds? The Parks and Recreation Department is listed as a co-sponsor, but there’s no indication of what they actually did. For all I know, it could have been as little as staff employees reserving the park.

    Does anybody know what the cost was to the city?

  3. THEA! You are my hero! Well said and great distinctions! I whole heartily support Edmond Lutheran Church in its endeavors. Thank you for your hard work in bringing the community together. Hope you had an awesome Easter.

    Joe! Sure, Thea says the same thing I do and you say “Good Point”. See why I am “Seriously Torqued”. 😉

  4. The question of how much this event costs is interesting from a fiscal point of view. Like you, I consider myself to be a fiscal conservative. Any time the city does something it is fair to have a public discussion about costs and benefits. Since we don’t know the costs, we can’t have an intelligent conversation about the fiscal side of things. I think it’s reasonable for the city to spend modest amounts of money on fun activities, even in tough times. If we can find out how much this event cost, we might need to have a discussion about that.

    I’m also a passionate believer in open government so I think it is appropriate to demand the the city reveal how money is spent, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable that it.

    You’re right that I jumped on the religious angle of your posts and ignored the religious angle of Thea’s. You seemed to be saying that any cost to the City of more than zero is legally unacceptable, and that’s what “torqued” me. Thea seems to be say that any cost of more than zero is unnecessary, and I feel more neutral about that.

    But If you’re accusing me of inflaming your passions in an unfair way, I don’t think I can claim complete innocence, and I won’t promise not to do it again. 🙂

  5. I need to proofread more carefully. The second paragraph should read:

    I’m also a passionate believer in open government so I think it is appropriate to demand that the city reveal how our money is spent, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable that is for city officials.

  6. I asked the Parks Director about the city’s cost and promptly received this response – which was not a surprise to me.

    Hi Ron:

    Thank you for your inquiry. I would like to provide you with the facts, and I also know that the Mayor is planning on responding to this as well.

    The total cost of the Egg Hunt is $1200.00 and the full amount every year is paid for by sponsors. This year, Sound Women’s Care was the sponsor.In addition to the hard cost, we also recruit volunteers to run the event. We had over 35 volunteers from the Key Club and Honor Society of Edmonds-Woodway High School, and Sound Women’s Care. We also had the two Rotary clubs in attendance collecting food for the Carol Rowe Memorial Food Bank. They collected over 30 boxes of food for those in need in Edmonds.

    Other sponsors included 1. the Snohomish County Fire District, who provided education to kids, and set off the horn for the start of the hunt, and 2. Nama’s Candy, who provides the candy at cost.

    The city allocates some Recreation Coordinator time, but this person does not get paid additionally to be at the event on Saturday, as it is considered in part of her overall duties.

    If you have any additional questions, please let me know. Thanks.

    Carrie Hite

    Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services Director
    City of Edmonds | 700 Main Street | Edmonds WA 98020
    425.771.0256 | 425.771.0253 (F)

  7. So hundreds of children had a great time at multiple events and the City of Edmonds didn’t have to pay for any of it. Those of us who didn’t attend any of the events were still able to enjoy the best weather so far this year.

    That’s “An Edmonds Kind of Day!”

  8. So we had a fun event that was enjoyed by grandparents with there grand kids, parents with there children and anybody who wanted to enjoy a fun afternoon that didnt cost the city any money and used are parks for what they are intended for, the citizens of Edmonds to enjoy. I am not sure those who attended thought of it as a religious or pagen or gov. function , but as just a wonderful fun event for the children, parents and grandparents. Dont we have much more important concerns . I think so.

  9. As always, My Edmonds News readers are way ahead of me! I received this response from Mayor MIke Cooper, but it appears that Ron got much of the same info:

    “Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this issue that is of great importance to our community. We have been hosting an Egg Hunt in Edmonds for 26 years. I appreciate the concern of your readers about city finances in particular during these challenging economic times. The Egg Hunt this year was sponsored by Sound Women’s Care. In addition , Nama’s Candy Store provided candy at a discounted price. The total amount raised in sponsorships was $1200, which covered the cost of the event.

    In addition, we had over 35 volunteers helping run the event from the Key Club and Honor Society of Edmonds-Woodway High School, and Sound Women’s Care. We also had the two Rotary clubs in attendance collecting food for the Carol Rowe Memorial Food Bank. They collected over 30 boxes of food for those in need in Edmonds.

    Snohomish County Fire District #1, provided education to kids, and set off the horn for the start of the hunt.

    A Recreation Coordinator works the event, but does not get paid additionally to be at the event on Saturday, as it is considered in part of her overall duties.

    As you can see this is a community wide event that brought nearly 1,000 people to beautiful downtown Edmonds on a Saturday. As I drove through downtown after the Egg Hunt, the streets and shops were busy with happy families who had just enjoyed a family friendly event at our city park. “

  10. Although I am not ready to concede the point, I am just tired of knocking heads with Joe who is too smart for me. I will be contacting Park & Recs to coordinate similar functions for other cultural and religious events. i hope Joe will work on this with me because, as a divorced, roller derby, failed politician, mother I just don’t have as much time as I would like to.

    Cheers.

  11. I’m glad you didn’t concede because it was a tie, really. The fact that the City didn’t spend any money made the First Amendment issue moot. The kids had a good time and we both wanted that.

    I’m not sure I’ll have time to devote to organizing a cultural event, but I sure do hope it happens and I’ll be there if it does. This website might be a good place to find help.

    शांति तुम्हारे साथ रहना
    नमस्ते

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