City offers alternative Easter activities

Gravette celebrates with paper egg hunt, Egg My Yard fundraiser, coloring contest

GRAVETTE — It was a very unusual Easter for residents this year. With meetings of large groups prohibited because of the coronavirus, the Greater Gravette Chamber of Commerce was unable to hold its traditional Easter Eggstravaganza.

Many families planned their own private celebrations, but Easter 2020 proved to be unprecedented due to the lack of group activities.

Jodi Moore, owner and operator of Dynamic Rhythm dance studio on Main Street, came up with a unique idea to help area youngsters have an Easter egg hunt and still practice social distancing. Early last week she went around town “hiding” paper Easter eggs in several locations up and down the street.

She invited families to drive down Main Street and look for eggs with various characteristics, such as stars, crosses, flowers, polka dots and stripes, and certain colors. They were then asked to choose a favorite and post a picture on social media.

In addition, Moore held an egg hunt of her own at the Dynamic Rhythm studio. The windows of her business were filled with paper eggs and plastic eggs of all colors and sizes. She posted a list of questions for youngsters to answer. They could look in the window and see eggs that helped answer all the questions. She asked about how many eggs with flowers, eggs with dots, eggs with stars, large paper eggs and small eggs the viewer saw so children had a chance to use their math skills.

Then they were asked to guess the total number of eggs that were in the studio windows.

The Fire Department and members of the department’s women’s auxiliary teamed for a fundraiser called Egg My Yard. Families were able to contact the auxiliary and have eggs hidden in their yard for a fee. All money raised will be used to help buy needed equipment for the Fire Department, as well as provide meals for firefighters during training events and emergency calls.

Several families participated and almost 2,000 eggs were filled with toys and candy and hidden in area yards. With the help of donations, the department also was able to leave special goodie bags for families, according to Ashley Cloud, head of the Gravette Women’s Auxiliary.

“We cannot wait to put this on again next year,” Cloud said.

Even though they couldn’t hold the traditional community Easter egg hunt, chamber officers weren’t happy with canceling festivities altogether. They came up with an alternate activity, an Easter coloring contest. Vice-president Amanda Gittlein announced the contest was open to children in four age categories, 2-3 years, 4-5 years, 6-7 years and 8-10 years.

Youngsters could pick up paper copies of the eggs to be colored at CV’s Family Foods, Gravette Upper Elementary School and the Gravette Public Library. They could choose from several different designs, then color and submit their entries. Winners in each age group were presented an Easter basket filled with prizes.

Gittlein pointed out coloring is a great way to reduce stress for people of all ages.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Susan Holland) A display in the windows at the Gravette Public Library features several decorative paper eggs and a little brown bear wearing his bunny ears and sitting beside his Easter basket. Designs for the Easter coloring contest were available at the library.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Susan Holland) A colorful egg featuring both stripes and polka dots adorns the front door at The Patio barber and tanning salon, along with a note from the owner that the business is temporarily closed because of covid-19 but “hope to be open again soon!”

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/ Susan Holland) A large red egg in the front window at Austin Drug on Gravette Main Street features an eye-catching spider web design. Jodi Moore, owner of the Dynamic Rhythm dance studio, placed several eggs in the area so youngsters could enjoy a virtual egg hunt.