Crack Open Some Easter Fun Eggstraordinary events around the North
By Lynda Wheatley
If your family celebrates Easter, chances are good you’ve got your Easter Sunday traditions down pat: Easter bonnet, Easter service, Easter ham, and Easter egg hunt. But it turns out, the day of, the day before, and even the weeks ahead offer some extraspecial activities and social events to inspire folks to step out of their, well…shell. We rounded up a few we thought might add some excitement to your usual celebration.
THE BIGGEST EGG HUNT IN MICHIGAN The Lake City Area Firemen’s Association is bringing the heat to beat what they believe is the state’s current record of a 27,000-egg Easter hunt by filling at least 30,000 eggs—and as many as 60,000, depending on how much “fill material” they can get—for their April 16 Easter Eggstravaganza. The record-breaking fun begins at 11:30am at Maple Grove Park, 5547 W. Davis Rd. in Lake City. STROLLING BRUNCH AND HUNT IN LEELANAU Patch together a pretty springtime setting—rolling hills, just-awakening vineyard, horses moseying about the paddocks—with the best meal of any Sunday: brunch. Black Star Farms is doing up Easter Sunday with a strolling brunch. Think Sweet Cream Pancakes (with maple syrup, cinnamon-honey whipped butter, and jelly beans); farm-fresh Waldorf salad; Black Star Benedict; glazed ham; pastries; and all sorts of other fixings for $20-$40 per person, plus mimosas and wines by the glass
and bottle for an extra charge. An outdoor Easter egg hunt for kiddos caps off each brunch; as of press time, tickets for three scheduled brunches between 9:30am and 2pm remain. Buy yours at blackstarfarms. com/easter-brunch. CHURCH & FAMILY PHOTOS IN GAYLORD Not into the Easter bunny? Gaylord’s Mount Hope Church is hosting a special family Easter service at 10:30am, after which families can stay to have their photos taken together—no furry animals necessary. (Unless Dad decides not to shave for the holiday.) Photos will be emailed later in the month. Gaylordchurch.com. LENTEN SOUP SUPPER STUDY ON OLD MISSION PENINSULA Do you talk the talk or walk the walk? Folks looking for a faith-forward way to embrace the Easter season ahead of the traditional Sunday church service should check out the Lenten Soup Supper Study that Old Mission Peninsula United
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Methodist Church hosts this week. The event—6pm-7:30 Wednesday, April 13— welcomes anyone who wants to belly up for a bowl of soup, break bread, and—whether they’ve read it or not—talk about author Adam Hamilton’s book The Walk: Five Essential Practices of a Christian Life. Please call the church at (231) 223-4393 to reserve a chair at the table. Those looking to attend an aweinspiring Easter Sunday mass will love the Son-Rise Service at 7am Easter Sunday, followed at 7:30am with the muchanticipated return of the church’s traditional Easter Sunday breakfast—the first in two years, Old Mission Peninsula UMC’s Wendy Warren tells Northern Express. For information on these and other Easter week events at UMC, call the church (number above), which is located at 16426 Center Rd. EASTER BUNNY & PET PHOTOS IN PETOSKEY Count on Grandpa Shorter’s to make the most of Easter events. Petoskey’s O.G. souvenir store has been bringing the
Easter Bunny out of his burrow for kid photo ops since April 2, but he’ll make a special appearance at the store from 6pm to 8pm Thursday, April 14, to get pictured with your pets. He’ll come back 1pm to 4pm Friday and all day Saturday (9:30am to 4pm) in a fresh outfit so kids allergic to pets won’t have any allergy worries! All kids who visit the bunny get a free gift, and parents kind of do too— they can use their own camera to shoot the photo for free. A special mailbox waits outside the store for kids who want to send the Bunny a letter before Easter. (Those with a return address will receive a letter back from the bunny.) If you’re there before April 15, do two things: 1) Take a guess at how many eggs are in Grandpa’s window; the correct guess gets a chance to win a $100 gift certificate from Grandpa Shorter’s. 2) Ask staff (or download at grandpashorters.com) for a clue sheet for the April 16 Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt, when treasures will be hidden all around Downtown Petoskey.
