Egg hunt on track

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Local businesses, neighbors and area churches are banding together to revive the Mountlake Terrace Easter Egg Hunt.

With the city budget shrinking, the future of the event was in doubt. It is only through the cooperative move that the egg hunt will become a reality.

“This event would not happen without everyone’s help,” said organizer Seaun Richards, owner of The Red Onion, a restaurant in Mountlake Terrace.

The egg hunt will be 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 3, at the Evergreen Playfield, 22205 56th Ave. W. Four areas will be segmented for specific ages of children to try their luck at finding eggs. Event organizers are aiming for 5,000 candy-filled plastic eggs with an additional complement of 100 eggs stuffed with prize vouchers — and one Golden Egg containing $500 worth of merchandise and discount certificates.

Churches and businesses are raising money to finance the event, with area merchants accepting donations of plastic eggs and wrapped candy. Members of the Senior Center will stuff the eggs. Local citizens are volunteering their time to organize and staff the hunt itself which will get started with the traditional horn blast from Fire District 1. The city will make the park available if it does not conflict with local youth baseball teams’ use of the field, according to John Caulfield, city manager.

In 2007, the city council moved to dedicate funding in the budget for the garden club, the seniors group and the tree lighting, with other groups competing for funding through a community grant fund. That fund, $33,500 in 2008, was reduced to $15,500 in 2010. The egg hunt, then organized by the MLT Seniors, was one of the unfunded programs.