Easter egg hunts hatching throughout Garfield County

Easter egg hunts will be hosted throughout Garfield County over the next few days as youngsters on either side of the Colorado River will have the chance to find as many eggs as they can carry all Saturday morning.

For the 84th year in a row, Rifle Lions Club will be hosting a citywide Easter egg hunt at Deerfield Park beginning at 9:45 a.m., which member Cindi Fenney called Rifle’s longest continuous running event. Families are again invited to head to the park Saturday for the 10 a.m. hunt. A drawing will be held at 9:45 a.m. for bike and helmets to participating children.

“When it first started they would hide hard boiled eggs throughout town instead of candy,” Fenney told the Post Independent. “Now we hide thousands of pieces of candy throughout Deerfield Park.”

Further west down I-70, Battlement Mesa Kiwanis will be hosting what member Lynda Prendergast felt must have been the organization’s 20th straight Easter egg hunt on the Grand Valley Recreation Center Lawn.

She said anyone ages 1-10 from the area is welcome to enjoy in the fun.

Aside from its annual Easter egg hunt at Sopris Park, which this year will begin at 10 a.m. with a shotgun start, Carbondale is hosting the third annual “Where My Peeps At?” 5K-10K walk, run and scavenger hunt for adults all morning downtown.

Competitors will choose between a longer distance 5-10K course or a shorter 2.5-5K course with an entry fee of $30 per team. Marshmallow Peeps will be hidden throughout downtown with several local businesses participating as teams will attempt to solve clues to find their next location as quickly as possible. The team with the most Peeps at the end of the day will be named winner.

These teams will be given a map of downtown Carbondale. They will have two hours to find as many peeps as they can and document them on their map.

Outside New Castle, the New Creation Church will be hosting a hunt at the park near the church at 10 a.m. Over 16,000 eggs will be hidden and festivities will include bounce houses, petting zoo and more.

Nearby, Silt will be having its annual egg hunt at Veterans Park, also at 10 a.m.