Vacaville Parks and Rec hosting virtual Easter egg hunt, contest

With California’s population continuing to shelter at home due to state and federal orders in light of the global coronavirus pandemic, people’s Easter celebrations may look very different than they envisioned at the start of the year. Church services will likely be streamed, visits to relatives will be canceled and public Easter egg hunts will not take place.

This includes the Vacaville Parks and Recreation Department’s annual Bunnies and Bonnets Family Fun Day, which was slated for Saturday in Andrews Park. Nonetheless, Recreation Supervisor Melody Ocampo said the department found another solution for Easter fun.

“We wanted to do something still to celebrate the season, and kids love going on egg hunts,” she said. “I know I loved that when I was a child, and we had the joy of getting to see that every year at the Bunnies and Bonnets event.”

Parks and Rec staff figured they could give families an activity to do at home. The solution? A virtual Easter egg hunt.

“We wanted to do something still to celebrate the season, and kids love going on egg hunts. I know I loved that when I was a child, and we had the joy of getting to see that every year at the Bunnies and Bonnets event.”

Families can download an egg template from CreekwalkEvents.com and put their creativity to work. They can simply color it in or create a very outlandish design. Ocampo said anything is welcome.

“As long as the families are having fun, that’s the whole point,” she said.

After the designs are done, people are encouraged to display the eggs in their windows, so if other families want to drive around and do “virtual egg hunts,” they can point at them from their cars. Ocampo said the Parks and Rec Department is also running its own contest where people take pictures of their egg designs after displaying them and posting the images on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, while tagging @VacaRec and using the hashtag #VacaEggHunt. Staff will be pulling all the posts together on April 12 to judge the most creative entries. The winners will receive prizes from the event’s sponsors: Round Table Clubhouse, 99 Cents Only and Raley’s.

Ocampo hopes the event will give participants a fun thing to do while they are sheltering at home.

“I hope they have some fun time with their family and get to celebrate the holiday, especially in a time when we’re not able to go out and be with our extended family and friends,” she said. “This is an opportunity to connect with folks and to have a little fun.”

For more information, go to CreekwalkEvents.com.