It's An Egg-Stravaganza For A Good Cause

Next year, they’re going to buy more eggs.

That was the No. 1 lesson learned by Alec Lewis and his team of helpers from during Saturday’s March of Dimes Easter Egg Hunt at Cirque/Bridgeport Park in University Place.

Lewis, who moonlights as Farmers’ recruiting coordinator for Western Washington when he isn’t organizing egg hunts, figured that maybe 200 children would show up to celebrate Easter at the inaugural event, which also featured bounce houses, food, face painting and crafts.

Try at least 2,000.

“It’s a lot bigger than we thought it was going to be,” he said with a laugh.

Lewis said that when word got out, public safety officers from the and – with their rigs in tow – came to lend a hand on the warmest day of the year.

“They took time out to come help,” he said. “It was beautiful.”

Lewis said that Farmers is one of the largest corporate sponsors of the March of Dimes, which works to prevent birth defects and infant mortality. Among their initiatives are newborn screening and education about healthy pregnancy practices and the genetic causes of birth defects.

Farmers gave $6.5 million to the organization last year. All proceeds from Saturday’s event go to the charity - and Lewis couldn't have been more thrilled with the public's support. Admission was free, but some activities required tickets available for $1 each.

“We (initially) had two rolls of 2,000 tickets, and we went through both rolls quickly,” he said.

Lewis said the event was borne of the realization “that in the cities of Lakewood and University Place, we hadn’t seen any community events like this for a while."

Enter a team of agency owners and agents from the two cities and as far away as Kent and Lacey, all volunteering their Saturday for a good cause.

“We wanted to do something with the community and give something back to them,” said agent Debbie Beckwith as she parceled out strips of red tickets to a long line of families wanting enough to make rabbit ears, buy a hot dog and soda, and, of course, get a photo with the Easter Bunny.

Agent Don Buesen of Lakewood felt similarly, saying that Farmers is known for its community outreach.

And, he added, “It’s fun. My kids are all grown up, but I’m still a big kid.”

Other than Lewis, the person of the hour was clearly the Easter Bunny, also known as Farmers agent Renee Damiani. Children waited in line for to get their picture taken and chat with the energetic rabbit.

Damiani said that she had never played the Easter Bunny before – she was volunteered for the job – but that she was having a blast “being a celebrity.”

Preston Gress, 4, was brave enough to talk to the bunny without help from mom Crystal, who gave him some words of encouragement before snapping a photo.

“I think this is awesome,” the Lacey woman said. “I love the March of Dimes – they’re an amazing charity – and it’s great to see the kids.”

Furthermore, she added jokingly in reference to the turnout, “It’s teaching them to have patience.”

So many children came out that the organizers had to split them into six groups, all by age, with the littlest revelers getting the first crack at the egg-stravaganza.

When it came time to distribute the eggs, the kids playing catch and chasing each other were asked to vacate the lawn. A small group of grown-ups scooped handfuls of eggs out of giant black bags and scattered them as agents helped keep the growing crowd of 5- to 7-year-olds at bay for a seemingly endless wait of about seven minutes.

Those seeding the lawn knew that the ratio of children to eggs was somewhat lopsided – even with more than 3,600 plastic eggs purchased for the event – and said that they were already thinking about 2012.

“We’ve been telling Eric, ‘Now you’ve really got to throw this next year,’ ” Buesen said. “We are just completely floored.”

And once the grass was sufficiently covered in a rainbow of colors, Lewis raised his arms and the kids were off in an instant, their feet thundering across the lush lawn as they stopped only to snag Easter eggs filled with candy, and for two lucky children, the grand prize: a bike.

Afterward, Brandon Beltran, 7, of Tacoma, sat down on the lawn to count his stash as his father, Fernando, looked on.

“It was fun,” he said of collecting his 11 eggs.

So how did Brandon get so many?

He grinned. “I run really fast.”