Michelle Ajemian
Staff Writer

The intensity in the air could be cut with a knife.  Young children ready to pounce at the mere glitch of a sound.  Parents giving pep talks to make sure their children’s effort would not go unrewarded.  Volunteers in blue shirts surrounding the area to make sure everything was contained.

No one would suspect that this scenario would be the annual San Dimas Family Festival Easter egg hunt, held on March 31st in the San Dimas Civic Center Park.  Needless to say the Easter egg hunt is no laughing matter for children aged 3 to 10 who participated. 

“I thought it would be fun to win prizes and be together with my family,” said Natalie Ikhrat, 8, of San Dimas. 

Natalie had an ambitious of goal of capturing 70 eggs and her strategy for her first Easter egg hunt at the Family Festival was to go for the big Easter eggs. 

Without warning, “Go” was shouted over the megaphone and kids scattered throughout the park in hot pursuit of Easter eggs.  A passerby commented that the kids looked like a bunch of ants scurrying about.

The Easter eggs were filled with either candy, a ticket to receive a Pez candy and golden eggs had a ticket to win the board game Guess Who.  There were multiple Easter egg locations, separated by the different age groups to ensure equality among the hunters. 

Some of the participants ran, others walked leisurely and a few of the younger children got help from their parents to make sure they gathered the most eggs.  Even though there were a couple of cries from the younger participants, everyone had a great time. 

“I think it went pretty well, looked like the kids had fun, went pretty quickly and it was safe,” said Victor Perrusquia, a recreation leader for the San Dimas Civic Center.

Natalie had a great time channeling her inner competitive spirit, even though she did not capture the 70 eggs she aimed for, only picking up eight eggs filled with candy.

The Easter egg hunt was the first of many events and attractions that occurred at the San Dimas Family Festival. 

“There are local vendors, pony rides, the rock climbing wall is here and I know they will be serving hot dogs later on,” said Katy Gautschi, a recreation coordinator for the city. 

The festival also had blow up sliders, a performance from the San Dimas High School Band and pictures with the Easter bunny for $2. 

There was a variety of local vendors selling items that you would find at festivals across the country such as college paraphernalia, hand crafted jewelry, stained glass and knitted blankets, hats and purses.

There were many information booths such as the American Red Cross, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Meals on Wheels.  There were many booths dedicated to animal protection and preservation such as Friends of the Dog Park, Second Acts Foundation (a non profit animal rescue) and San Dimas Canyon Nature Center. 

The Nature Center had a very popular booth with workers showing off birds, snakes and turtles. 

Ester Kium, a vendor at the festival, summed it up pretty well when she said that the festival looked very nice; it was well organized and the weather was great. 

Michelle Ajemian can be reached at majemian@ulv.edu.