LOCAL ‘YOLKELS’: Valley kids give Easter Bunny a helping hand coloring eggs

MAT-SU — It doesn’t take much to egg on Tracy Yates.

As organizer of the annual Palmer Elks Lodge 1842 Easter egg coloring egg-stravaganza, Yates doesn’t try to hide her egg-citement for the egg-cellent event.

“I love it, just love it,” Yates said while running from table to table Friday evening filling cups with brightly colored dyes. “Most of all, the kids are all wonderful.”

It makes the work hard-boiling 35 dozen eggs worthwhile, she said. Best of all, it brought out the inner child of Elks Exalted Ruler Mike Southcott. After some prodding, Southcott relented and sunk a couple eggs himself.

“Oh, my gosh, I haven’t colored eggs since I was a kid,” he said, adding being around the children is part of what makes being an Elk worthwhile. “The things we do for kids is wonderful, I think. They have so much fun and it’s worth all the time we put in.”

As a room full of children and parents playfully put pigment to shell, another handful of volunteers filled some 2,000 plastic eggs with candy for Sunday’s Elks Easter Egg Hunt, which begins at 2 p.m., at the lodge off Barrys Resort Drive.

For at least one family, however, coloring eggs was part of a more-than-welcome homecoming. Army 1st Lt. Brady McManus and wife Danielle were all smiles watching their young sons — Evan, 2, and Domanick, 6 — get nearly as much coloring on their hands as their eggs. It’s also the first holiday the family has been together since Brady returned March 30 from a deployment in Afghanistan.

Originally, he wasn’t scheduled to return until April 18, but got back early and decided to surprise the family.

“I didn’t tell them, I just showed up at the house,” he said. “They were surprised, oh yeah. I just walked into the house and (Danielle) thought (Domanick) was just coming home from school.”

Aside from splashing his own eggs into cups of dye, Domanick snagged two from his little brother as well. He’s particularly found of three — bright blue, orange and purple eggs.

“We’re bringing them home,” he said, adding he wants to keep the eggs forever.

That’s when dad chimed in with a new tradition that made Domanick’s face light up — trading eggs for cash.

If the kids put their eggs under a pillow, “maybe the Tooth Fairy will think it’s a tooth and you get cash,” Brady said. “We’ll start a new tradition.”

Then he gives the idea a little thought. “Yeah, I think now we’re going to be waking up with eggs under our pillows all the time.”

One table over, Claudine Fernandes, daughter Mylynda, 8, and friend Vanessa Adee, 8, are busy expressing their own artistic talents. Well, to call the girls “friends” may be a stretch, Claudine says.

“They’re more like siblings,” she said. “They love to hate each other.”

Adee isn’t stingy with the coloring, either. After dying her eggs, she takes to them with a paintbrush — and gets nearly as much pigment on her eggs as she does her hands.

Mylynda is more careful with hers. “My favorite is that one,” she says, pointing out a bright blue egg.

At another table, 7-year-old Finger Lake Elementary School first-grader Cash Hiltabiddle is deep in concentration. He’s also putting the finish touches on his creations with a brush. He said he especially likes mixing colors.

Across the table, 5-year-old sister Layla has created some truly psychedelic shells.

“I’m going to take them home and eat them,” Cash said.

“Really?” responded mom, Sheila Hiltabiddle. “What did we decide we’re going to do with them? Who are they for?”

“The Easter Bunny,” Cash said, adding that if the Easter Bunny likes the eggs “he leaves a bunch of candy.”

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

What: Palmer Elks Lodge 1842 Easter Brunch and Egg Hunt

When: Brunch begins at 10 a.m., egg hunt at 2 p.m.

Where: At the lodge, 2600 N. Barrys Resort Dr.

Cost: For egg hunt, $7 for children younger than 5; $15 for children 6 and older.