Clark celebrated Easter with an egg hunt on April 8

CLARK, NJ — On Saturday, April 8, Clark celebrated Easter with an egg hunt, games and activities for the community. Residents came to the recreation center with their families to enjoy the festivities. The event was organized by Clark Recreation Director Ralph Bernardo.

“The egg hunt starts at 12:30 p.m. and we will have one every 10 minutes,” Bernardo told LocalSource in an interview at the event on April 8. “Anyone who finds a golden egg in an egg will win a prize. There’s a jelly bean guessing game, bike raffle, American Girl raffle, balloon animals and more.”

Best of all, the event was free for families to attend. Donations were welcome, but local businesses took care of the rest. There were flowerpots of viola pansies for children to paint and give to their families as an Easter gift.

“I love to paint so this is the perfect activity for me,” Lyla Mamola of Clark told LocalSource in an interview at the event. “I really love the recreation center. I take a dance class here during the week, and I’m thinking about signing up for tennis. I’m really excited about the egg hunt. They really do a lot here.”

Lyla painted her ceramic flowerpot purple for Easter. She painted it for her mother, who was also at the event. In addition to painting, other creative children also had their work on display. The winners for the coloring contest were hanging on the wall with bows taped to the winning entries. The picture was an Easter basket filled with eggs and a rabbit and chick standing near it. The contestants were separated by age groups. There were gold-, silver- and white-bow winners for each age group. Artists were permitted to take their work home with them after the event that day if they wanted.

Gold bow winners for the coloring contest included Victoria Hackett, Grace Chern, Julian Colon, Alyssa Telewiak, Zachary Carco, Adriana Ersakowicz, Marco Melchionna, Joseph Melchionna, Madison Rappa, Anna Barbieri, Zachary Pipala, Reese Passuth and Bryanna Wojciechowski.

The creativity didn’t end there as children decorated their buckets prior to the egg hunt. They used stickers to brighten the bucket and make it more festive.

“I’m putting flower stickers on my bucket,” Layla Kupia of Linden told LocalSource in an interview at the event. “I also have some Frozen stickers to use.”

Meanwhile children were taking photos with the Easter bunny as well as enjoying juice and snacks provided by ShopRite. The gymnasium in the recreation center was transformed into an Easter scene with spring decorations surrounding the bunny. Children took turns waving to the bunny and taking photos.