Easter celebrations abound in Lincoln County
The origins of the celebration of spring now known as Easter trace back into the deepest reaches of recorded history. From Eostre, the Celtic goddess of spring, to her Germanic counterpart Ostara to the more modern Christian celebration, Easter is a holiday of rebirth and renewal. It is a time to celebrate life and birth.
In Lincoln County there will be three traditional Easter egg hunts and community celebrations to mark the holiday.
The action kicks off at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Libby Christian Church. Church members and volunteers have been busy stuffing plastic eggs with toys and candy for children to find. Event organizer Sharon Brossman said they’ve set up the event in order to ensure a prize for every child. Anticipating between 300 and 400 participants, volunteers stuffed 8,000 eggs.
The Libby Christian Church event will begin with a short program featuring a cartoon about Easter as well as a singing performance by 30 to 40 children from the church’s after-school program. Brossman said the program will teach Christian gospel principles, but not in a heavy-handed way.
“We try to make it fun and not overly religious,” she said.
The kids will be divided into four age groups: two and under, three to five, six to eight and nine to 11. There will be a wagon awarded to the grand-prize winner in the youngest age group. New bikes will be awarded to a boy and a girl from each of the three older age groups. The bikes were provided by Bad Medicine Bike Shop.
“We just hope a lot of people come and have fun,” Brossman said.
A second Libby event begins at 1 p.m. at J. Neils Park. The event is sponsored and organized by employees of Youth Court Services. The staff, Dee Teske, Kindra Hageness, Johna Kilgore, Joe McElmurry and Carl Leggins have donated hours of their time in order to plan and arrange the Easter egg hunt.
Libby Empire Foods and Rosauers donated 1,800 eggs for the hunt. The eggs were boiled and dyed by the youth court staff with the help of some of the youth in the program.
Kids at this event will be divided into groups of two and under, three to five, six to nine and 10 to 12. Noble Excavating donated new bikes which will be awarded to grand-prize winners in each age group.
This event has been a fixture in the community for at least 15 years, organizer Dee Teske said.
“I started working here in 2000, and it was going on then,” she said.
Teske said the event was started by members of the foster parent association, one of whom worked for Youth Court Services. Over time the office adopted the hunt and eventually obtained permission from the state Office of Court Administration to keep it going.
“Putting on the Easter egg hunt is just our way of giving something back to the community,” Teske said.
The event in Troy also begins at 1 p.m. and is being held at Roosevelt Park. Troy Community Baptist Church is sponsoring the event, which is being organized by Barbie Coldwell and Teresa Cox.
This year the event took a different course, finding its support from individuals instead of approaching area businesses for donations.
“My whole goal is to pull off the event without burdening our local small businesses who do so much for our community,” Coldwell said.
The kids will be divided into four groups, one to three, four to six, seven to nine and 10 to 12. There will be a golden egg hidden in the section reserved for each age group, the finder of which will win a new bike except in the one to three age group, in which the winner will receive a new wagon.
The event will also feature a bounce house as well as cotton candy and snow cones. Volunteers from the Door of Hope Church will be providing free face painting. There will also be a cupcake contest and hot dogs hot off the grill, as well as lemonade, unless the weather gets bad.
“We’re ready to switch from lemonade to hot chocolate if the weather changes on us,” Coldwell said.