An early Easter egg-off

Rainbow-colored Easter eggs laid scattered before a bustling crowd of children as they focused on the task before them — collect as many Easter eggs as they can.

More than 300 children hopped over to Verdugo Park on Saturday for the ninth annual Easter Eggstravaganza, sponsored by the city's Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department.

The carnival games, sack races, snacks and a gregarious Easter bunny kept visitors occupied between egg hunts. But the main attraction was the Easter egg hunt, said John Maghaguian, the department's community services coordinator.

"Our big draw is the egg hunt," he said. "That's what the Easter Eggstravaganza is all about."

For the second of three egg hunts of the afternoon, children gravitated to the hunting area — a grass clearing bordered off by rope with plastic Easter eggs strewn about in plain sight.

When they heard the cue, the children scrambled in a rush to grab as many Easter eggs as they could. Within seconds, the more than 300 eggs had vanished. Some cheered and showed off their booty. Others cried in disappointment.

"Everybody got lots of eggs but I didn't," said 3-year-old Grace Pool, who held onto one of the two eggs she managed to procure.

Nearby, 8-year-old Roni Markarian exchanged his egg harvest for prizes — a bag of candy. He said he pulled in more than 15 eggs.

"I just went to get some eggs at a place there were lots," he said.

After the tired egg hunters redeemed their prizes in exchange for what they collected, volunteers started preparing for the next round.

One volunteer, Vickie Cheung, said there was no real method to scattering the eggs on the hunting area.

"We have to put some candy in some of them," said the 17-year-old Crescenta Valley High student. "Then we just threw them scrambled all over."

In between egg hunts, the children scattered about to different attractions.

Patrick Gerogooriyan, 11, hopped to victory in a potato-sack race. He said he had won the race more than 10 times that day.

"It's fun," he said. "Sometimes you win. Sometimes you fall down. It's the best. And you're in this 100-pound rice sack thing."

One of Patrick's considerably younger opponents in the sack races, 5-year-old Kaleb Whyley, said he tried hard to get the toy prizes for first place.

"I didn't win," he said. "Whoever wins gets first-prize, but I didn't win."

Nearby, parents were lining up their children to take photographs with the Easter bunny.

The man inside the costume, city employee Danny Navas, said the key to being a convincing Easter bunny was acting like "a big fluffy ball of happiness."

"The first few minutes, it's really fun," he said. "But then the heat gets crazy. I hear parents say, 'I feel you, I feel you.' So I get some respect."

Happening a week before Easter, the event was meant to build up excitement for the actual day, Maghaguian said. Plus, most people would have plans for Easter other than a park festival, he said.

The volunteer, Vickie, said the event was all for the children.

"It's just letting kids be happy and let them have a fun time celebrating Easter," she said.