Locals enjoy visits with the Easter Bunny, great egg hunts and petting bunnies at holiday gatherings
By Barbara Burke
Special to The Malibu Times
With his big, big floppy ears and giving everyone big, big hugs, the Easter Bunny stole the show at Easter on the Green, Trancas Country Mart’s annual Easter celebration on March 30. Attendees were delighted that Mother Nature provided a respite from the rain just in time for the event to begin.
“We have been coming to Easter on the Green since the girls were babies and we look forward to it every year,” Malibuite Celeste Csato Grundman said. “It’s such a wonderful event to bring the community together. We love seeing our friends and meeting new people.”
As wee ones scurried about amidst the marvelous mayhem carrying Easter baskets and hunting for eggs, adults tried to keep up and snap a few photos for posterity. Older children adroitly vied for the colorful eggs, darting about to grab as many as possible, but the littlest also garnered their share in the spoils.
A smiling, victorious little girl sporting a colorful and adorable unicorn basket stopped to count her colorful winnings – blue, yellow, pink, green, and purple eggs – what a haul!
Soon, they were off to explore the various games. Tic tac toe, duck hunt, cornhole, and bowling. The choices of activities were all so interesting. The littler attendees shyly observed the older children so they would know how to play each game. Soon they had the hang of it and were holding their own.
“Look at all the kids coming together to enjoy this event!” Sean Newhouse exclaimed as his son Dylan, 9, adeptly played the duck hunt game.
Carolina Londono heartily agreed, saying, “I think it’s really lovely to feel the warmth of the community and to get together and be on common ground with everyone and to enjoy the children’s innocence.”
Little Lily Johnson shared her perspective about the whole gathering, saying, “It’s really fun because my friends are here and I get to spend time with my grandparents, my mom and dad, and my sissy!”
Other small attendees also enjoyed the experience.
“I liked when I hugged the Easter bunny and when I went bowling with the Easter Bunny and my friends!” Soleil Grundman, 4 said. Her older sister, Ciel Grundman, 6, chimed in, saying, “I liked it when I almost scored a goal in cornhole. I also liked it when I hugged the Easter bunny. I really liked the singing and music!”
The Easter Bunny himself shared his input, leaning in closely to the journalist to say, “The Easter Bunny is having the best time ever hopping around Trancas Country Market and bringing the children Easter cheer!” Shaking his long, floppy ears around and hopping up and down, he joyfully added, “Let’s all have a great holiday!”
Sharing greetings of “Happy Easter!”, families slowly departed, with moms and dads carrying sleepy wee ones who seemed very ready for their naps — no doubt they were enjoying sweet dreams remembering their wonderful experience at one of Malibu’s favorite Spring events.
On Easter Sunday, little ones carefully crafted Easter baskets at their Sunday school classes at Malibu United Methodist Church. Carefully drawing flowers and other decorations and sitting amidst stickers galore, the little artists were waiting with great anticipation for the church service to end so that they could get on with the business of the day — the annual Easter egg hunt! Little Emmanuel Rodriguez, 4, showed his little basket off, as did Aaeelia Delgado, 4, who shared that she had butterflies, dinosaurs, flowers, rainbows, and beautiful eggs adorning her basket.
Soon, it was time to chase after the eggs, an event moved into the church sanctuary to accommodate the weather. A bevy of bouncing, bubbly children found all the beautiful eggs amidst the altar’s floral arrangements, in the pews and under the pews and, well, everywhere!
Across town little Sylvie Denenberg, 4, and other children had some fun facetime with bunnies on show at Malibu Farm on the pier. “I like to feed them carrots!” Sylvie announced to no one in particular as she tried to coax a recalcitrant rabbit to take nibbles from the vegetable.
As the afternoon wore on, Malibuites commented that another Easter day full of that silly Easter rabbit hopping all over town had come and gone, leaving children and adults alike with wonderful memories and, of course, wonderful chocolates and Easter treats!