BY LOREEN BERLIN: Stanton Central Park was hopping with lots of fun activities Saturday, as children up to 13 years of age hunted for plastic-colored eggs and candy hidden by the Easter Bunny and her human helpers.
The egg hunts were done by five groups of children: up to 2, 3-4, 5-7, 8-10 and 11-13, which gave equal opportunity for children within those specific age groups to fill their colorful Easter baskets and containers with surprises.
BY LOREEN BERLIN: Stanton Central Park was hopping with lots of fun activities Saturday, as children up to 13 years of age hunted for plastic-colored eggs and candy hidden by the Easter Bunny and her human helpers.
The egg hunts were done by five groups of children: up to 2, 3-4, 5-7, 8-10 and 11-13, which gave equal opportunity for children within those specific age groups to fill their colorful Easter baskets and containers with surprises.
This kept the City of Stanton Community Services Department staff, council members and volunteers busy, as more than 4,000 families and individuals attended, which meant there were a lot of young residents looking for treats nestled within plastic eggs.
Some of the plastic Easter eggs held sweet treats, while 350 were "golden,” meaning they could be traded for large Easter baskets loaded with a variety of Easter items —all donated by different groups and organizations.
"This is triple the amount of donated baskets from last year," said Community Services Director Julie Roman.
"This is the largest crowd I've seen in the history of our city," said Kiwanis President and Mayor Pro tem David Shawver. "The Kiwanis served more than 350 pancake breakfasts.”
In addition, there were Easter crafts for the children and the ever-popular face painting, along with pictures with the white rabbit, which was performed by a volunteer and former Stanton City employee Hilda Laufer.
Stanton's Easter Egg Hunt started out with an early-morning pancake breakfast served by the Kiwanis Club of Greater Stanton. This year, word has it that Mayor Carol Warren mixed the pancake batter herself and added a secret ingredient that had attendees raving about the delicious pancakes and sausage breakfast.
Youth volunteers from the Key Clubs of Western and Oxford high schools helped with the pancake breakfast; Key Clubs are sponsored by Kiwanis Clubs.
Coordinating the Easter event was Community Services Coordinator Diana Valtierra.
DJ for the event was Danny Gonzalez with Center Stage Entertainment.
It's a little early yet for the Splash Pad area of Central Park to be operational; that delightful area will open as soon as the weather warms a bit more. However, the park has an assortment of wonderful play areas for children, such as a train.
There's a walking area around the inside of the park and exercise equipment all along the path for those who enjoy that type of fitness regimen.
Sponsors made the event possible. Some of those include W-Power Company and Rountree Gardens Senior Community of Stanton, as well as the Kiwanis and Lions Clubs and Friendly Center.
Face painting was provide by the Anaheim Family YMCA and the Stanton Library provided the arts and crafts, and there were many resource groups onsite.
The Stanton Women's Group held a raffle to raise money to provide a program for seniors at Park Place Senior Apartments.
"We're starting small and will grow from here," said Pamela Schoonover. "Seniors need personal items such as shampoo and toothpaste.”
Stanton's 11.5 -acre park, which was made possible by several grants and redevelopment dollars that the State of California returned to the city, also provides tennis and basketball courts, and a skateboard area for children and young teens.
