Did someone say “Easter egg hunt?” Yes, please! Who doesn’t love the thrill of the challenge? The beauty of the spring ground, decorated in little oval pastel colored treasures! The adrenaline rush of the competition! The glory of winning a cash prize!
Yes, folks, it’s that time of year again. If you or your kids love an Easter egg hunt as much as me and my kid do, you won’t want to miss this family event at North Pines Middle School in Spokane Valley. Sure, you can find other egg hunts around Spokane. But you won’t find an egg hunt like this egg hunt.
With 30,000 prize-filled Easter eggs, plus $1000 in added prizes, the Spokane News Easter Egg Hunt is the area’s largest Easter egg hunt. What’s more, the Spokane News Easter Egg Hunt boasts a huge bounce house and inflatable area, vendors, special guests and more. There’s something for everyone!
The Spokane News Easter Egg Hunt is the brainchild of Jay from Spokane News. (Jay prefers to remain mostly anonymous to focus attention on the event and the story). Jay has a knack for seeing a need in the community and filling the void. Thirteen years ago when he saw a need for local coverage that focused solely on live news, Jay created Spokane News. He describes Spokane News as objective coverage, showing “what really happened. We don’t put a spin on or sugar coat things.” Jay and his team at Spokane News also enjoy community involvement and offering events that bring the community together. Spokane News is also notorious for spreading cheer and generosity to community members. One example is the 25 Days of Christmas. With the help of local business sponsors, Spokane News gives $25,000 in cash and prizes every December.
In 2021, Jay noticed a need in Spokane Valley, where the city didn’t host an Easter Egg Hunt. This year also happened to be one year into the covid pandemic. The city was under lock down. There were no events. But fate, or the Easter Bunny, smiled upon the event, and one week before it was scheduled, the number of people allowed to congregate at an event was opened up to 250 people.
Still, some ingenuity was required to host an Easter egg hunt in the times of social distancing. Especially when your goal is the “biggest and best Easter egg hunt.” But that’s the kind of planning Jay and his team excel at. To accommodate social distancing requirements, they organized the event with multiple courses. Pre-registration was necessary to limit the number to 100 people per hunt area, with waiting times between. That first hunt managed to accommodate 500 to 1000 on the ground at one time, all day long.
Now, well past pandemic restriction and with two years of experience, the 2023 Easter Egg Hunt promises to be the best yet. If 30,000 eggs wasn’t enough!
“Additionally, we are giving away $1000 in prizes this year spread out in all the Hunts. The Cash Hunt is a special Hunt. Each egg in this Hunt has a ticket. The ticket may or may not be a money ticket. Each egg has a ticket inside, so there’s no stomping on the egg to get money. Another fun Hunt is the “Egg Frenzy ‘’ which is a challenge hunt where you can only collect eggs of one specific color. We have Hunts for every person so check the schedule!”
“How fun! Tell me more!”
“Each age group has their own hunt time. We have times for 11 or 12 different age groups, including two designated times for our friends with special needs. They get a longer block of time to accommodate their needs. There’s a senior hunt as well.”
Senior hunt? That’s what I’m talking about!
“And this year we have nine or ten inflatables for our Bounce City.”
Sounds like a blast to me!
While Jay was the creative force behind the event, he is quick to credit community supporters for making it happen.
“This (the Easter Egg Hunt) is only possible because of the community sponsors. Without them, we couldn’t have such a cool event. When there’s a void, the community steps up. Without the sponsors, none of this would happen.”
So shout out to you event sponsors! Bounce Time Rental, Yoke’s Fresh Market, Perfection Tire at the Y, RS Recycling, Scott Family Orthodontics, Mail Box Center, Furniture Outpost, Avista, Carlson & Co Real Estate, West Coast Screen Printing, and Huckleberry Press!
Visit the Facebook event for more information.
Complete Schedule and Event Details
Location: 11900 East Broadway at North Pines Middle School
Over $1,000 in added Prizes. Look for marked tickets inside of hidden eggs in every round of play and head to the Prize Table to collect your prize. All times are approximate.
10am: Event Opens, Activities Begin, Bounce away in the Inflatable City! Play games at many of the Sponsors sections. Enjoy music and more!
10:10am: Extra Time Hunt, this Hunt area is ONLY for those in need of extra time and special circumstances. Look for the White Flagged playing area.
10:30am: Spokane News Scavenger Hunts Clue Hunt. Clues posted on the Scavenger Hunt Page for hidden eggs in the area. Find the special eggs for prizes. Egg will not be hidden in a marked off play area. Eggs will be hidden on the school grounds. Follow our Scavenger Hunt Page for clues.
Main Hunts Begin
11am: Ages Under 2
11:15am: Ages 2-4
11:30am: Ages 5-7
11:45am: Ages 8-11
Round Two
12pm: Ages Under 2
12:15pm: Ages 2-4
12:30pm: Ages 5-7
12:45pm: Ages 8-11
Round Three
1pm: Cash Hunt (Must have Event Easter Shirt to enter, some eggs have $$, some eggs do not. All eggs have tickets but not all have a prize. Check the prize table to see if you won.)
T-shirts available here: https://tinyurl.com/4savk8dn
1:15pm: Ages 2-4
1:25pm: Ages 5-7
1:35pm: Ages 8-11
1:45pm: Extra Time Hunt, this Hunt area is for those in need of extra time and special circumstances. Look for the White Flagged playing area.
Round Four
2pm: Ages 12 -17
2:15pm: Egg Frenzy with added prizes. Adults must have a child under 12 to join in on this fun Hunt. Can only collect Eggs of the same color! If you play by the rules this will be a fun hunt!
2:25pm: Senior Hunt! Yes, we made one for you!
3:00pm: Adult Only Hunt (Yes this is for Adults only)
3:25pm: Open Hunt, All Ages. Final Hunt all Welcome.
3:45pm: Clean up begins, please help if you can! We must have the area clean so please don’t leave behind trash or eggs.
4pm: Bounce City closes.
