Egg hunt turns 10

When Steve and Donna Shober arrived at New Hope Church in Scotts Valley a decade ago, they instituted what has become an annual tradition at the north end of Scotts Valley: a massive Easter egg hunt.
“We decided from the very beginning that we wanted to do this for the community,” Shober said this week, as 4,000 plastic eggs sat in large boxes in the church office waiting to be hidden for the weekend’s hunt. “We planned it for the first year, and all of a sudden, it started growing.”
Every year, weeks before Easter, organizers collect candy and plastic eggs from members of the 100-person congregation and the community. Then they spend several hours in an assembly line, putting candy in each egg. Fillings include jelly beans and wrapped chocolate candies, but no hard candy, so the youngsters can participate. Windy Fulcher has organized the hunt, now in its 10th year, for the past few years.
“The kids are happy with tons of sugar, and the moms and dads are very happy (about that),” Fulcher joked.
The hunt will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 23, at New Hope Church, 4001 Granite Creek Road. There are four separate hunts: the first for children 2 and younger, then 3- to 5-year-olds, first- and second-graders and finally third- through fifth-graders.
One prized golden egg, filled with five $1 coins, is hidden for each age group.
More egg hunts can be found in the Datebook on the Press-Banner Web site.