Twitch, the oversized costumed rabbit, was ready for photo ops, face-painting, and the main event—an egg hunt that had kids scrambling with excitement Saturday morning at Vallejo’s Children’s Wonderland Park.
Twitch’s Egg-Stravaganza, an annual event sponsored by the Greater Vallejo Recreation District at Glenn Street Park, was by all accounts a hopping success—judging by the countless smiles on children’s faces, some delightfully painted for the occasion
Besides excitable kids doing some of the hopping, Johnathan Burton of Fairfield, as the hand-waving, floppy-eared Twitch, did some, too, especially when he hopped out of his seat, then sat back down with dozens of children who lined up, their parents in tow, for a memento Eastertime photo.
Not every child seemed to cozy up to Twitch, who, by Burton’s size alone, could be intimidating to, say, a 2-year-old.
Which was the reaction of Nico Wall, 2, son of Keith Wall and Danielle Spencer of Vallejo, whose mother said he was a little apprehensive while seated next to Twitch.
But asked if he liked Twitch, Nico smiled a smile that matched the emerging sunlight at the park, four or five acres of grassy areas and other areas filled with the harbingers of spring: red-flowering gardenias, gazanias, pink-flowering cherry, crape myrtle, deodar and redwood trees.
A Vallejo couple who only wanted to go by their first names, Tony and Katherine, looked over at their daugher, Riley, 6, who was busy looking at her multicolored plastic eggs in a basket and smiling.
Twitch’s Egg-Stravaganza “seemed like a success,” said Tony, basing his succinct review on Riley’s reaction in the moment.
Riley’s egg-filled basket, like so many others carried by dozens of children, was yield of candies and small toys in each egg found during one of two scheduled egg hunts at the park. Organized by age groups — 0 to 3, 4 to 6, 7 to 10 and 11 to 14 — the first began shortly after 9 a.m., the second shortly after 11 a.m. Children fanned out, some hunting for prized golden eggs, to different areas of the park, depending on the age groups. Each of the two hunts was a mad dash of joyful discovery.
Emily Mendez, recreation coordinator for the GVRD, said 160 participants signed up for each 90-minute session, at a cost of $6 in advance, and $8 for nonregistered, day-of walk-ins.
If the egg hunt was not enough of an attraction, there were churros being dispensed by a vendor in turquoise-blue truck doing a land-office business. Under a pink pop-up tent, Craig Anderson, the Crumbl cookie vendor, was on hand, too, offering milk chocolate chip cookies and boxes of cookies for a price.
Just beyond the park entrance, there were event souvenirs for sale. Bunny balloons went for $7 and an Easter basket was $3. Plenty of takers, for sure.
Off to the right of the entrance, there was Whimsy Bee Face Painting — for anyone at least 2 years old, a sign read. Proprietor Hannah Best, indeed, with a line of several dozen families going down a walkway, had her hands full, that is, full of brushes to apply cosmetic-grade, latex-free products billed as “friendly to kids and those with sensitive skin.” No surprise, at least one girl walked away, smiling, with a cat nose and whiskers painted on her face.
Antony Ryan, recreation services director for the GVRD, said the park re-opened in 2007 in the cul-de-sac portion of Glenn Street, and, something of a green oasis in a residential area, has been popular ever since.