Over 300 attend Rotary’s first-ever Easter Egg Event

Winners of the Rotary Club of Saipan’s first-ever Easter Egg Event hold up their prize certificates after the event last Saturday at the Sugar King Park. (NHORLEEN LILLES)

With over 2,000 eggs hidden in the nooks and crannies of the Sugar King Park in Garapan, that ensured that almost everyone who participated in the Easter Egg Event of the Rotary Club of Saipan last Saturday, April 3, went home with a prize.

Rotarian Committee Service director Joann Aquino said around 300 people gathered for this event, which the Rotary Club of Saipan hosted for the first time ever. The event was divided into two segments: the Easter Egg Hunt, with participants divided into four groups (toddlers, preschool, elementary, and middle school) and the Easter Egg Decoration Contest which had high school student participants.

“We had a lot of prizes to give out. We’re really thankful for our donors who gave cash and in-kind snacks and their support. This was a good event for the first time. We hope to do this next year and to add on more activities and to get the adults more involved. We have some plans coming up,” said Aquino.

Besides the eggs, Aquino said they also had 300 goodie bags, and inside the eggs themselves had vouchers for goodie bags, prizes, or cash.

The Rotary was supposed to hold this event last year but it got cancelled due to COVID-19, so Aquino is happy they were able to proceed this year. “Families and kids, have been locked in for some time, so I hope that by providing this community event, this brought them out, gave them some fun and fresh air, and I hope they enjoyed the whole event and their prizes,” Aquino said.

She also added that everyone practiced the protocols, signed in for contact tracing, and all wore masks.

Rotary Club Saipan president Sonya Dancoe said she hopes everybody enjoyed themselves. “Next year we’ll try and throw another one. The rain started falling by the last moments of the Easter egg hunt. It cooled it down a bit, but there weren’t any complaints. …Hope to see you all again next year,” said Dancoe.

Rep. Sheila Babauta (D-Saipan) participated with her family at the event. “I’m very happy that the Rotary hosted this event for the community on this beautiful Saturday morning. They did such an amazing job implementing the COVID-19 guidelines, and ensuring that the kids had so much fun, and that it was a safe event for the entire family. I was very happy to see a diverse group of people here too,” said Babauta. “One of the kids with us found the bronze egg. Most of the prizes they won were school supplies, which I’m very happy about too!”

Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang said he’s happy that the Rotary Club Easter egg hunt was a success. “There was a lot of kids this morning participating, and I’m sure they enjoyed themselves. It rained a little bit and dampened things, but the sun’s back out and they continued to enjoy it. Coming out here and doing their run to find those eggs—that’s exercise also,” he said.

Savannah Relox Delos Santos, 2021 CNMI’s Miss Marianas, attended as one of the Egg Decoration contest judges. “I was really excited and proud of the community coming together for this event. I believe [an] event like this is really important to have, especially during these current times. It really boosts the spirit of the community, and it was nice to see everyone. That was really awesome because just judging in general, I realized how much talent our youth had. And it was really nice to see the artwork that they did on the eggs,” Delos Santos said.

Maria Lael Terlaje, 2020 CNMI’s Miss Earth, also came as a judge for the art contest. “It was actually my very first time being a judge. Seeing everyone’s creativity with their own input on how they see the island [and] at the same time putting it into an Easter theme was awesome,” said Terlaje.