PORT TOWNSEND — At 7 a.m. on Easter morning, the gates will open at Chetzemoka Park, on Jackson Street in Port Townsend, and children who are 12 years old or younger will fill the park searching for as many of the hidden 1,500 eggs as they can find.
By 7:10 a.m., it likely will be over.
Members of the Port Townsend Elks club will be at the park 4:30 a.m. to build fires and stake out the areas for the separate hunts, divided by age groups.
At 5:30 a.m., the Easter bunny – the costume was donned last year by Elks Lodge No. 317 Exalted Ruler Cathi White – and helpers will hide the eggs for the 10-minute hunt.
“That’s all it takes,” White said.
“We work on this forever, and it’s all gone in 10 minutes.”
The hunt is the oldest continuous Easter egg hunt on the North Olympic Peninsula, having been held for 78 years.
Several members of the volunteer crew in the kitchen Thursday said they have heard it was possibly the oldest in the United States.
The title doesn’t matter much to the volunteers though. They said they were at the Elks Lodge in Port Townsend to make eggs.
