Easter in the park

We have a great little community centered around the park which is about two blocks away. People organize play groups, concerts, summer parties, etc. Everything is very family focused, with special emphasis on young kids.

Today there was an Easter egg hunt in the park. Kids were eagerly awaiting the 10:15 a.m. start – clustered around a sparkly ribbon drawn between two trees (some had already been finding eggs around, but parents mostly managed to make kids wait).We counted down from 10 and then the kids burst out – running all over the park in search of foil-wrapped chocolate eggs.

M got into the hunt with some encouragement. She enjoyed finding eggs around trees and in the grass; she’d carefully pick them up and deposit them in her basket. Later into the basket went leaves and handfuls of sand and grass – pretty much things of equal value. She has no idea that the eggs have chocolate inside – and since I didn’t really want a toddler hooped up on chocolate, I did not bother to inform her. She collected the eggs much as she does pebbles and small toys - items to simply carry around.

As part of this event, I asked my favourite Bridgehead coffeeshop for a community donation of coffee. Before heading over, M and I stopped by and picked up a big canister full of coffee – along with milk, cream, sugar and lots of cups.

Bridgehead asks that these community events in some way promote things such as fair trade, the environment and the community. So we hauled over the green, black and blue bins and put up a small sign encouraging people to recycle or compost their used cups. (This got me thinking about looking into getting a permanent recycling set-up at the park this summer.)

We also let people know that we’d be collecting items for the food bank and I’m impressed with the bin-full of things that were donated. I have trouble remembering to pack a snack and a sippy cup, so I’m impressed not only at people’s generosity, but also that they remembered to bring things to the park.

A great event and a great little community behind it. So lucky.