Kids ring in spring with Ronan egg hunt
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RONAN — Kids big and small turned out in droves despite chilly weather to participate in this year’s Ronan egg hunt on April 1.
Put on annually by Mission Mountain Enterprises, a local non-profit that provides community-based services to individuals with intellectual disabilities, Gayle Mock of the organization said that they’ve been holding the event since before she started 15 years ago. “It’s just one of Mission Mountain Enterprise’s ways of giving back to the community,” Mock said. “It’s just a lot of fun.”
The Mission Valley Popcorn Kitchen attended this year’s event selling their treats, and the Easter Bunny made a special appearance to sit with kids and take a photo with him.
Around 300 kids show up every year to the event. Children up to 12 years old engage in separate egg hunts according to their age group. Two lucky kids in each group, found a ticket in one of their eggs and won a prize basket. Mission Mountain made sure that every kid had a small brown sack full of trinkets and candy to take away as they left.
It took Mission Mountain about two months to fill the 5,000 eggs used on Saturday. Each one filled with candy, Mock explained that they try to be mindful as they stuff the eggs to make sure appropriate candies are going into the different age range allotments. Any eggs kids don’t take home with them get deposited in bins left around the egg hunt areas to be reused the next year.
Mission Mountain Enterprises pays for the community egg hunts themselves every year, but anyone interested in helping the next hunt happen are welcome to make a donation. This year saw a sharp increase in bulk candy prices, with Mock reporting they spent approximately $250 more than the previous year. To find out about contributing to next year’s egg hunt, contact Mission Mountain at: https://mme-mt.org/contact-us
“It’s really been a nice event over the years,” Mock commented. “We do it rain, snow, sunshine … we’re on it!”
