Community Easter egg hunt tradition rolls on

By Caroline Rosacker

The Guttenberg Rotary Club and Guttenberg Care Center's annual Easter Egg Hunt is set for Saturday, March 30, beginning promptly at 1 p.m., for ages 0-10 with three individually timed hunts separated by age groups at Rotary Riverside Park located at 300 South River Park Drive in Guttenberg. 

Easter tradition

Guttenberg's annual Easter egg hunt was traditionally held in Ingleside Park. The Riverview Care Center took it over in 1980, and held it on the spacious lawn surrounding the senior care facility.  

In 2014, the newly named Guttenberg Care Center began building Eagle View Assisted Living. The construction process disturbed the area, causing organizers to seek out a different location.

The Guttenberg Rotary Club stepped forward and joined forces with the Care Center, moving the annual event downtown to Rotary Riverside Park.

Ten years and counting

"We partnered with Guttenberg Care Center on April 19, 2014," noted Guttenberg Rotary Club member Jean Green. "An article in the Guttenberg Press states it was only suppose to be downtown until the new assisted living center was constructed and the grassy area restored where the hunt took place."

The new location and partnership with Rotary was such a success the event has remained downtown for nearly ten years. 

The Rotary Club budgets $300 per year for the annual event that approximately 100-150 kids participate in. 

Keeping with tradition, Guttenberg Care Center residents fill 900 colorful, plastic eggs with an assortment of candy. Rotary and several other local businesses donate money to purchase baskets, prizes, gift cards, stuffed toys, candy, and other items. 

Volunteer effort

An Easter egg hunt would not be complete without an appearance by the Easter Bunny, AKA Cindy Troester of Guttenberg. Although others have stepped in, Troester remains the number one choice. 

Six Rotary members work to advertise the event, distribute flyers, request donations and organize eggs and prizes prior to the spring affair. 

On the day, 10 volunteers are needed to distribute and hide the eggs, prizes, and candy for the children to find, and monitor the hunt, which is roped off into three separate sections by ages:  0-3; 4- 6, and 7-10 years old.

The groups hunt one at a time in chronological order by age beginning with the youngest. "No group hunts at the same time. When one gets finished, the next begins," said Green. "We have learned from past experience that this system works best for all of the kids involved, and for parents who may have children in more than one age group."

One gold egg and one silver egg are hidden in each section/age group.  Kids who find those eggs claim a large, filled Easter basket. There are many more filled eggs plus toys, stuffed animals, candy and coupons for children to find and enjoy so no one leaves empty handed.

Eggs-citing for everyone

The Guttenberg Press reached out to former Guttenberg Care Center Activity Director JoAnn Svoboda, who was employed with the care facility for 23 years, and always looked forward to the yearly event.  "Back in the day the residents dyed 900 hardboiled eggs that staff and volunteers hid in the lawn" Svoboda recalled. "Eventually food safety regulations did away with that practice, and we switched to stuffing plastic eggs, but still dyed enough that were handled properly for the residents to enjoy on Easter morning. I always had to buy extra candy because the residents enjoyed eating it too while they stuffed eggs."

Svoboda fondly described the yearly activity that the residents not only helped with but also enjoyed watching the day of the event. "It was always so much fun!" she exclaimed. "I used to push all the tables together, lay out paper towels, cups of dye and spoons, flats of hardboiled eggs counted out, plastic eggs and bags of candy and gather the residents around to work on the eggs upstairs and down. It was a lot of running back and forth between the two levels!"

Grateful for volunteers

The activity director would wrap three eggs in gold foil for eager hunters to find. "We gave out three large Easter baskets for each age group filled with stuffed toys and candy for the kids that found the special golden eggs in their age group," she remembered. 

The expansive lawn created a challenge for the care center staff and volunteers. "We had three large areas marked off. It was such a big deal I would have volunteers help shout out where the kids needed to go," Svoboda said with a laugh. "We would say, 'You better not cross that line!'" 

The event was over in the blink of an eye. "I always saved eggs back for kids and families that arrived late, so they wouldn't be sad they missed it, because it was over so fast," she commented.

Svoboda never had to purchase plastic eggs thanks to Irene Freese's family that shopped for discount eggs the day after Easter each year. "The late Jane Siebrecht was very generous also and donated stuffed animals that we would place in the egg hunt area for children to find," she shared. "The kids would get so excited when they saw them. I was never short of volunteers. My grandkids helped hide the eggs when they got older.” 

Although the egg hunt was moved away from the facility Svoboda always made sure residents who were willing and able could still see the children hunting eggs. “We took the residents down in the bus and parked right by the fence so the residents could watch. They really enjoyed that,” she concluded.