Egg Hunters and Easter Bunny Hop to It

Here in Southern California, where a day in December can be just as glorious as one in March, we must look beyond the thermometer and flower beds for signs of spring.

Saturday’s sign: A giant rabbit has been laying colored eggs.

Several thousand of Ventura County’s smaller citizens scrambled for Easter eggs at hunts in Ventura and Thousand Oaks, a week and a day before the actual holiday.

Arroyo Verde Park in Ventura became Cottontail Canyon, and for the 20th year, the Conejo Recreation and Park District hosted its Spring Eggstravaganza.

But to call these events “hunts” would be inaccurate. The hay did little to hide the Easter Bunny’s eggs at the Conejo Creek soccer fields, and Cottontail Canyon’s mowed lawn didn’t provide much cover either.

“It’s an Easter egg pickup,” said Derrick Haber, a 10-year-old whose strategy for maximizing his egg in-take in Ventura was “push everybody down.”

Given the potential for bloodshed, or at least tears of disappointment, both hunts featured age divisions and a reward system that must have been established by either a socialist or an advocate of the self-esteem movement.

“At the end, even if you get 100, you still get one goody bag,” said Oday Hishmeh, 8, who nevertheless returned to Cottontail Canyon again this year.

Yes, the plastic eggs were all empty, redeemable for bags of trinkets or kites, chalk and--if you found the elusive golden egg--a stuffed animal.

Therein lies a raging debate in egg-hunt game theory: Do you spend crucial time looking for the golden egg, which is hidden better than most, or do you nab as many of the visible--but less valuable-- eggs as your basket or bonnet can carry? “The older kids go straight for the golden egg. They know it’s there,” explained Steve Prchal, who was running the hunts in Thousand Oaks. “Most of the younger kids go for quantity . . . or a favorite color.”

Parents, Prchal reported, seemed particularly eager for their children to nab the gilt ovum, and could be quite vocal in their coaching.

“Get an egg, sweetie! Pick up an egg!” shrieked one mother in Ventura.

Children’s festival staples such as face painters, clowns, puppeteers and ponies were also on hand.

And like a political candidate closing in on Election Day, the Easter Bunny himself was making the rounds. The leader of the lagomorphs promised to return next weekend for several more hunts around Ventura County and door-to-door visits to local homes.