50 years of Easter memories ... a legacy
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March 30, 2013 |
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| This young
lad got a personal hug from the Easter
Bunny Saturday morning before embarking
to fill his basket during the 50th
annual Bonners Ferry Lions Club Easter
Egg Hunt at the Boundary County
Fairgrounds. He'll remember this moment
forever. |
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Story and photos by Mike Weland
For 50 years, the Bonners Ferry Lions Club has
been giving the kids of Boundary County memories
to last a lifetime, hiding eggs on the
fairground lawn and tucked among the swings and
slides for eager kids from toddler to ten to set
off in search of.
More than a tradition. It's a legacy.
A connection between old and new, young and old.
A binding tie that connects the generations with
the best sort of memory ... a memory shared.
"One of my earliest memories is participating in
this egg hunt in the late 60s," Wendy Foster
said to the Facebook announcement we posted of
the event. "I was a toddler and one of the
teenage volunteers helped me by leading me
around and showing me where a bunch of the
hidden eggs were. I hope the little kids still
have their own separate area away from the big
kids!"
They do, Wendy! Toddlers who enjoyed today what
you you did in the 1960s will likely be
remembering, with the same hope, in 2063 ... 50
years from now.
This year, Lions Club members hid 150-dozen
Easter eggs, that's 1,800 eggs, brightly colored
by residents at the Boundary Community
Restorium, many who have fond memories of taking
their children and grandchildren to their very
first, and many subsequent, Lions Club Easter
Egg hunts.
It's a community tradition that ties together
the ages as winter lets go and spring just
begins to burst forth.
This year, the weather could hardly have been
better ... bright sunshine, a morning
temperature that warmed from near freezing to
almost 50 degrees by the start of the hunt.
Birds chirped from high in the trees, the first
insects of spring flittered through the greening
grass and fluttered through the air.
Another season, another year.
Another resurrection.
More memories forged on joyous young faces, led
by kids we older folk once watched discover
their very first Easter Egg, now starting their
own families and carrying on a tradition
nostalgic. |
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| As
the older generation points the way,
young parents, many remembering their
first Bonners Ferry Lions Club Easter
Egg Hunt not that long ago, lead their
children, dressed in Easter finery,
toward a fond memory. |
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| The
smiles, the excitement. The joy on young
faces and reflected in the faces of
those who remember being led, now
leading. That's Frankie, front left.
Moments later, her grandpa, Brion
Poston, came by, camera dangling from his
hand. "I forgot how fast they are!" he
said, laughing. |
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| A
treasure at hand ... and so much more
than a mere colored egg. That's a memory
she's picking up, and a tradition. For
her, the joy of discovery. For her
parents, the memory of their joy as a
child finding that first beautiful
Easter Egg, and now their joy at seeing
their child experience that joy and
excitement anew. |
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