On the hunt for Easter eggs

It's no easy task trying to convince 4-year-olds the value of passing up an Easter egg that's right in front of them, but Santa Rosa recreation coordinator Laneil Bryant gave it a shot Saturday.

The savviest egg hunters, she told them, don't stop to grab the first egg they see, they run out to where the competition is less and collect eggs to their hearts content.

"It's about about strategy," she said.

Maybe it'll sink in at next year. As soon as Bryant finished "On your marks, get set, go," around 100 4- and 5-year-olds charged off the starting line into the softball field at Howarth Park, nearly all of them crowding around the first eggs they reached.

Not that it mattered much. Organizers of the annual city-sponsored egg hunt scattered approximately 2,100 trinket-filled plastic eggs and 40 pounds of candy, plenty to go around for three waves of egg hunts Saturday.

But going deep paid off for Brayden Farnham. The 4-year old got stuck behind a wave of egg hunters last week in Novato, leaving him slim pickings, mom Jessica said.

"It was like a street sweeper," she said. "There was no eggs."

This time with his mom's encouragement, Brayden trotted out further than nearly anyone and filled his "Iron Man" bucket with an admirable amount of swag: 22 eggs and one Tootsie Roll.

"I ran out there fast before the other kids did," he said.

The event - which also featured face painting, crafts and real bunnies - raised money for a scholarship to help people afford programs in the city's recreation and parks department, Bryant said.

You can reach Staff Writer Sam Scott at 521-5431 or sam.scott@pressdemocrat.com.