Spring is nearly a month in, and as April turns into May, the forecast promises warmer weather and plenty of outdoor activities, especially this weekend, as Easter is Sunday.
There are plenty of ways to celebrate Easter, whether you’re looking for a traditional egg hunt or a nice place to eat Sunday Brunch.
What: Southside Park Spring Egg Hunt
When: Saturday, 11 a.m. – noon
Where: Southside Park, 2107 Sixth St.
Cost: Free
With help from the Southside Park Neighborhood Association and St. John’s Baptist Church, Vineyard Church, the city of Sacramento will host the Southside Park Spring Egg Hunt, which will have a plethora of activities for the kids, including an egg hunt, face painting, carnival games, pictures with the Easter Bunny, various bunny-related crafts and Easter-related worksheets. Mounted police and the K-9 unit have also been invited to join the festivities.
Orange juice and coffee will be served, and there will be a raffle for two $250 Safeway gift cards.
The egg hunt will begin at 11:30 a.m. with 15,000 eggs for the hunting. There will be a total of four hunts, divided by age group. While most of the eggs are easily accessible, there will also be 10 golden eggs that will be a little more difficult to find. The golden egg discoverers can exchange their find for an Easter gift basket filled with various stuffed animals, games and toys.
Jessica Equihua, event coordinator and executive assistant for council member Rob Fong, said they are preparing for 500 participants on Saturday.
“The event is free, and there are plenty of fun takeaways, and one of the major highlights is that families are also provided with resource bags filled with information about services and events, such as this Easter event, in Sacramento,” she said.
For more information, call 808-7004 or go the the city events website.
What: Easter Egg Hunt and Pancake Breakfast
When: Saturday, 8 – 11 a.m.
Where: Clunie Clubhouse at McKinley Park, 601 Alhambra Blvd.
Cost: $5 for adults and $3 for children. Tickets are available at the door.
“The Kiwanis community, along with local Key Club and Circle K volunteers, has been putting on this event for hundreds of parents and children for about 24 years,” said Michael Flynn, coordinator of the event.
Traditionally, thousands of eggs are filled with goodies and hidden each year. The hunt will be done in age groups, beginning at 9:30 a.m. starting with the youngest and adding the next age group every 15 minutes up to the age of 9, according to Flynn. The breakfast is all-you-can-eat and includes pancakes, orange juice, fruit, coffee or tea and bacon or sausage.
There will also be face painting, carnival games and of course the playground itself for the children to roam free.
President Leslie Merker said, ”The Kiwanis’ mission statement is to serve the children, one child and one community at a time. It will be a fun event for the children, very family-orientated.” In fact, Flynn noted that the proceeds of the event will be for improvement and maintenance of the play structure in the park.
For more information, call 484-1314 or go the the Kiwanis’ website.
What: Spring Egg’stravaganza
When: Saturday, 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Where: The Pavilion, Elk Grove Regional Park, 9950 Elk Grove-Florin Road
Cost: Prices vary, $0.50/ticket
Kristyn Staby, recreation supervisor in special events, said that while the name has changed over time, the Spring Egg’stravaganza has been going on since the Cosumnes Community Services District (CCSD) came into place in 1985.
This year, the event will boast several carnival games, an egg drop competition and even a petting zoo by a local nonprofit 4-H Club. Last year, they welcomed about 1,800 guests and are expecting a similar number this year.
From 8 – 10:45 a.m., the Pride of Laguna Creek Lion’s Club will be offering a pancake breakfast for $5, children under 2 can eat free with a paying adult.
Outside of pancakes, they will also be serving ham, fruit and orange juice or hot chocolate. This Breakfast with the Bunny event usually draws about 600 people, according to Staby.
Carnival games and the Egg Scramble, the CCSD’s egg hunt, will occur all day.
The egg drop competition is done in partnership with the CSD Fire Department and takes place at 11:30 a.m. Children construct a simple holder for their egg in hopes that it will not break when dropped from the fire department’s ladder truck. Undamaged eggs are awarded a prize.
For more information, call 405-5300 or go the the CSD’s main website.
There will also be two other Easter hunting events in the area.
Westminster Presbyterian Church will be holding its very first Easter egg hunt in Capitol Park on Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon. The event is free and hunting will begin at 11:30 a.m.
For more details, call 747-9592.
Fairytale Town will be hosting its annual Spring Eggstravaganza on both Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Both days will be filled with egg hunts, prizes, pictures with Peter Cottontail, puppet shows and spring-themed hands-on activities.
For more information call 808-7462 or check out Fairytale Town’s event list.
BYOB: Bring your own basket to all egg hunting events.
For those of you who want to head straight to the meal and skip the hunting altogether, there are a couple of local places offering an Easter feast or just a few special eats.
What: Easter is Easy at Ten22
When: Sunday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Where: 1022 Second St.
Cost: $12 per special; prices vary on regular menu items
Ten22 will be adding three brunch specials to its regular menu this Sunday: Walnut Levain French toast, a Dungeness crab omelet and roasted apple crêpes.
Jay Veregge, the executive chef, said, “We want to provide our customers with the regular menu and have additions for holidays.”
Veregge also mentioned that the restaurant really tries to stay organic and farm-driven.
While the restaurant has only been in Sacramento for a little over a year, it was voted “Best New Restaurant” in 2010 by subscribers of Sacramento Magazine.
Specials will be available from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Reservations are recommended.
For further details, call 441-2211 or log onto their website.
What: Celebrate Easter at the Firehouse
When: Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: 1112 Second St.
Cost: $39.95 for adults, $14.95 for children 12 and under
The Firehouse is the sister restaurant to Ten22 and they have been hosting Easter Day Brunches since 2001, said Christi Stevens, marketing specialist.
The Easter brunch was specially created by Chef Deneb Williams and diners will enjoy a three-course menu beginning with a buffet of freshly baked pastries by Pastry Chef Jill Berger, seasonal fruit and assorted meats and cheese. Guests are provided with five entree options of pork chop and eggs, Newport eggs Benedict, Santa Fe tenderloin scramble, vegetarian polenta and prawns and scallops and either chocolate-peanut butter gâteau or lemon cheesecake for dessert.
A three-course children’s menu is also available. This menu also includes the starter buffet and a choice of Triple Berry Pancakes, chicken Alfredo or the Rise & Shine dish, which consists of scrambled eggs, crisp bacon and potatoes. For dessert, an oatmeal raisin cookie sundae is served.
Both The Firehouse and Ten22 have outdoor seating for you to enjoy that great spring weather.
More for information, call 442-4772 or check out the website.
Those in search of some Easter entertainment can check out either of the following two events.
A local church is changing up its regular routine this Sunday, with a performance in place of the normal service.
What: Easter Sunday Performance: Bow at the Knee
When: Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 11:45a.m.
Where: 2805 El Camino Ave.
Cost: Free
This will actually be the second year that El Camino Baptist Church will be putting on this specific production. Last done in 2004, Pastor of Worship David Burckhardt said it was very well-received and looks forward to watching the production again.
April Schrokosch, the ministry arts director, said “Bow at the Knee” is a very relatable play.
“It’s a great production about a man who struggles with looking at two different worlds. He is confronted with a different way of thinking and this applies to many people.”
With a cast of over 50, both Burckhardt and Schrokosch said, it was a true and full-on musical Broadway-style production about the story leading up to Jesus’ death and Crucifixion through the eyes of a Roman Centurion.
More further details, call 488-1522.
If daytime outings aren’t really your thing and you’re interested in something different, you might want to check out Easter Sunday School at Movies on a Big Screen.
What: Easter Sunday School
When: Sunday, 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Where: The Guild, 2828 35th St.
Cost: $5.00, advance ticket sales on site, cash only at door
This Sunday night, Movies on a Big Screen (MOBS) is showing a collection of vintage Christian material including but not limited to Christian scare films, kids’ shows and other religious video strangeness.
Robert McKeown, co-founder of MOBS, said, “We always try to play with special times of years or holidays. For example, around August, when school usually starts back up, we do a Back-to-School-Night with old educational films from the 50s and 70s. This year’s Easter viewing will be pretty similar.”
MOBS had always done Easter-related films before, such as a showing a Peeps documentary, shot in Sacramento, two years ago, but McKeown said that last year was the first year they had to deal with a movie viewing actually on Easter. So, they wanted to do something different and decided to show the video, “Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.”
For this event, McKeown scoured through hours of obscure videos for the night’s line-up, which remains a secret until the big night. But after some prodding, McKeown hinted that film clips may include material from an old Christian children’s show with a real life amputee dressed up as a pirate doing autopsies on sinners.
Themed snacks and drinks will be available for purchase, and you are also allowed to bring your own food.
For advance tickets or further details, check out the event page.
If you know of any events not mentioned above, please feel free to put the suggestions in the comment box below.
