The Plains Community Easter Egg Hunt was bigger than ever with a larger area and a record number of eggs and egg hunters.

For the second consecutive year the annual event was held on the Saturday before Easter Sunday, but this year it was moved to the Sanders County Fairgrounds and was a big hit with 351 participants ranging from under 1 year old to adults scrambling onto the grass to retrieve the colorful plastic eggs filled with candy and messages representing prizes. The event was divided into five age groups, including for the second year in a row, an adult category.

"There's no tripping, no punching and no kicking," said Eric Dimond, who worked the adult section, which had 1,351 eggs scattered in their largest hunting area, according to Jessica Peterson of the Assembly of God's Church on the Move and one of the primary coordinators of the event. This year, three other local churches - the Plains Bible Chapel, the Plains Alliance Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - joined Church on the Move and Plains Lions Club to put on the annual event.

Peterson, with help from the Easter Bunny, aka 21-year-old Ruthie Noble of Plains, started each group with a countdown to takeoff. And once they were given the green light they charged to the field of plastic eggs. Kids showed up in everything from pretty dresses to jeans and cowboy boots. A few wore bunny ears. Ivy Noble, 16, wore carrot earrings and Plains Councilwoman Lana Dicken had on a t-shirt with an Easter bunny in pink sunglasses. Participants had an assortment of containers to retrieve their treasures from a simple brown bag to handmade fabric Easter baskets.

"Overall, we were very happy with the event, definitely happy with the new location," said Peterson, whose church has teamed with the Plains Lions Club since 2017, though one year was missed due to the COVID pandemic. The Lions Club had been conducting the event by themselves at Fred Young Park for over 40 years. Steve Spurr, president of the Lions Club, said the new locale had more space for the egg placements, had better parking, and was safer for the children because it was farther off the road. "The weather was amazing and the kids and parents were great and it was a great turnout," said Spurr, who was accompanied by Lions members Richard Powers and Marion Jolin.

"Of course there were still some minor kinks, such as the sound where the younger groups couldn't hear what was being said, but overall the community members that I came across were very happy and thankful for the event and all the hard work put into it by everyone involved," said Peterson.

Parents were allowed to help kids in the youngest age group, which had just over 50 kids and 1,269 eggs in the grass. The youngest group more than doubled from last year. Each of the age groups was larger than in 2023. It took about four hours for 60 volunteers at the Church on the Move to fill 8,922 eggs Friday morning.

The biggest age group this year was the 8-12-year-olds with 128 kids collecting the 2,200 eggs put out early Saturday morning. The largest number of plastic eggs went to the 69 5-7-year-olds with 2,351. Fifty-seven teens in the 13-17 age group took part. There were 49 adults (18 and over) competing for the eggs, but last year 15-year-olds and older were in the adult class. This year, organizers placed 10 ticket prizes in the adult eggs. Sponsors this year were Farmers Insurance, Studs Building & Home, Mountain West Clothing, Wild Plains Nursery, Rocky Mountain Surveyors, MT West Dentist, First Security Bank and the three churches. In addition, Jessica and Sean Peterson donated various items from caps to Montana water jugs and various community members donated money to the event.

Hopa Mountain, a nonprofit organization, gave away about 75 children's books. First Security Bank gave away two bicycles. One went to Brayden Adkins, 5, of Plains. The other went to another Plains girl. Fourteen-year-old Emma Dimond sold handmade paracord bracelets for $5 apiece and homemade cookies for donations in her efforts to raise money to be a junior staff member at Camp Bighorn Christian camp outside of Paradise. The Assembly of God Church provided the candy and the Lions Club bought about $370 in prizes.

Spurr and Peterson are already planning for next year's Easter Egg Hunt, which they'd like to hold again at the fairgrounds. Spurr said it was great to work with the new fairgrounds manager, Kristy Sheehan, who he added was "super excited" to have the event at the fairgrounds.

Ed Moreth

Devin Funkenbusch takes a photograph of her Plains children with the Easter Bunny at the Plains Community Easter Egg Hunt at the Sanders County Fairgrounds. From the left: Kyrie Carr, 10, Kayda Carr, 6, Jayce Carr, 4, and the Easter Bunny, Ruthie Noble, 21, of Plains.

Spurr said they're considering having a pancake breakfast at the pavilion in the morning to kick off the events. Peterson said they might also have games for the kids.