The Easter Bash

Faintly I became aware that the alarm was ringing. I drowsily turned it off and looked at my watch. It was Three in the morning. Then I remembered that this was the big day!

The rest of the family was getting up as well. We had been waiting for the day of the Easter Bash for so long!

We had gotten almost everything ready the day before. Everyone got into the pickup with our trailer on the back and Dad drove us away from our house and toward Bessemer Park.

I wished the heat had worked in the truck. Since Easter was as early as it was, I was very cold. Spring was coming, but not soon enough to get that sunless morning warm.

When we got to the park, we had help waiting for us. We started to unload supplies immediately. As I worked, I noticed the sun slowly rising, giving us some gray light at first but then strengthening. The morning warmed up as well, which all of us were glad for.

Setup continued far after regular daylight came. And as it did, more help came as well. There was much to unload—tables, chairs, food, bounce houses, countless bins, games, toys, candy, and of course a boatload of Easter eggs.

Soon I noticed kids and their parents arriving. Though we had barely gotten most of the stuff out of the trailers (much less organized it), people were crowding around. A line formed behind the sign up table and we had to keep telling people that they wold have to wait another hour before nine AM came and we would open. Nonetheless, before we opened we had a line stretching from one end of the park to the neighboring baseball field!

Then things finally came together. The bounce houses were up, the booths were operable, the cooks had the pancake breakfast ready—so we opened.

The people at the sign-up booth were swamped as people scrambled to get signed in. They would get a card for the carnival games and a bag for the two o'clock Eater Egg Hunt. In addition, the first two hundred kids to get signed in received a free Easter Bash T-shirt! It was not long at all before every one of those shirts were given away.

They took advantage of the free pancake breakfast. The line for that became long as well. The cooks handed their customers pancakes and syrup and butter. They really went the whole nine yards. Then the people would sit down at benches under the large pavilion or set up mini picnics.

When they were done with breakfast, they would take their kids over to the carnival to play one of the many various games—we had bingo, horse shoe tossing, putt putt golf, and a whole lot of other games, most of which consisted of throwing something at a target. The kids would receive a toy or treat of some sort, then have their arcade game card punched to show that they had gotten a prize at that game.

Another thing they could do was go to the bounce houses. At first we had a few technical difficulties with the electrical supply (the park had some apparently weak circuit breakers) but with the help of a generator and some electricians, we had the bounce houses working fine.

Large lines formed as people gathered around the large inflatables. We had several people monitoring the kids as they jumped or slid or climbed around. Even with shifts where some kids would come out and others would come in for a few minutes, the whole place was swamped and buzzing with activity.

The kids could choose from a variety of inflatables. We had a “normal” bounce house, just an inflated floor with walls. Then we had a five-in-one, with an obstacle course and slide. In addition, we had a huge twenty-four foot slide, towering above the others.

A few hours passed. Just as breakfast was put away the cooks started on lunch. As I walked around, taking photos of kids playing or helpers helping, I noticed that the sign up line had finally completely disappeared!

Then came the lunch rush.

The line came back at the sign-in table and an even larger line formed in front of the lunch tables. The cooks were serving hamburgers and hot dogs with some sides. I thought I would have to wait in the extensive line, so I tried letting the lunch rush pass through for a little while.

When I came back a little bit later, the line was only bigger than before! I was telling a helper how surprised I was when he said I could just get my lunch from the back, skipping the line completely—since I was a helper. Relieved, I went over and got some lunch. I couldn't help being sorry for all those people in the long line.

I saw the fire truck had finally come! Kids came over to observe the over sized vehicle. Some firemen came out and brought a huge hose and hooked it up to a hydrant. Then the kids shot water up into the air with a fireman guiding his hands. Unsurprisingly, another line sprang up.

When kids were not doing one of our activities, they played around in the playground at one corner of the park. At one point it seemed like twenty kids had piled up on top of a merry-go-round and had one kid spinning them around and around! I was amazed at how many kids had arrived!

A make shift stage had been set up and there were live puppet shows and music going on all day. Kids crowded around to see what was going on and had a good time.

Just when things seemed to be calming down, Dad got up on the stage and said that a jalapeño eating contest was about to begin! I ran over immediately, but people were already taking all the good spots. In the middle were a couple of tables placed end to end with bowls of jalapeños stacked on top. A select few people pushed their ways through the thick crowd upon hearing their names called. They lined up on different sides of the tables and got ready.

In the meantime, I was getting desperate for a good angle to take pictures from. Dad had climbed down from the stage, so it was empty. I climbed on top of it and, looking down, I could see what was happening with only a few people obstructing some of my view.

Dad said a few more words, explaining the rules: they would have one minute to eat as many jalapeños as they could. It was easily said, but not so much done.

Finally, it began! They began wolfing the small green peppers down as fast as they could.

About six had signed up and showed up, give or take one or two. And I saw all of their faces turn red.

Time grew short. Soon they had twenty seconds left, then fifteen, then ten. Though everyone could feel the intense burn, they shoveled the jalapeños in their mouths harder than ever.

Then, in one last buzz of excitement, it suddenly ended. Dad and his judges counted out how many each person ate. However, there was a problem. One person still had several jalapeños stuck in her mouth! She stood there, looking like she was about to puke. Everyone backed away a bit as she spit them out on the grass in a disgusting mess!

The peppers were counted and it turned out we had a tie! It was time for sudden death. More bowls of peppers were brought out and the timer was reset. Then it started again!

The competition was more fierce than before, even after suffering through the last round. It was almost painful just watching them!

Somehow they made it to the end, and, after one more count, we had a winner! I imagine he was very proud of himself, yet sorry for what he did at the same time. After a challenge like that—without water or bread, or anything to help—his mouth was probably still stinging.

Gradually, as the excitement died down, the crowd did as well. But it was not long at all before another challenge arrived! One that was centered more around the smaller kids, and therefore also less painful—but way more gross...

Dad got up on the stage to announce that the Happy Meal Smoothie contest was about to begin. He explained the rules as he proceeded to get the game ready. There were a few happy meals behind him, and he pulled them out. In front of him he had a blender, into which he stuffed the happy meal's contents—burger, fries, and soda. Then he closed the lid over the appetite-curdling mixture and turned on the blender.

The ingredients took a while to come together. They formed a light brown mixture with little chunks in the middle. (Gag!) When the “smoothie” had been thoroughly pulverized, Dad slowly poured some into four cups, one for each of the contestants who by now wished they had not signed up.

Dad explained that they had one minute to drink as much of their smoothie as they could. Whoever had chocked down the most at the end of the minute or hopefully finished the whole drink first would win! We also had a bag in case anyone decided it was too much for them.

With a few more apprehensive moments, the contest began! I'd like to say that all the kids went bottoms up, but with their best efforts they had a very hard time drinking it. One kid dropped out only a few second in! The other three kept going. It sometimes seemed as though they spilled more than they drank, but they were trying hard. I doubt I could have done better!

There was no sudden death at the end of this one. By the time we had ended the minute and measured how much was left in each cup (no, I don't think anyone got through the whole thing), we had determined a winner! He triumphantly paraded around a while before the excitement once again faded away.

I was just beginning to review a few of the pictures I had captured with my camera when Dad announced that the easter egg hunt would begin shortly! I was on my feet again, camera ready. I saw people scattering eggs, so I went over there to get ahead of the action.

The first round was to be for the very little kids under six years. People formed a thick wall up at the line, all anticipating the eggs that were not really hidden but dispersed in the grass.

As I waited I listened to Dad giving the crowd some prep talk. Finally, he loudly shouted, “go!” What I saw next I was glad to have caught on video.

The “wall” of people dissolved slightly but remained mostly solid as everyone rushed forward all at once. I found myself involuntarily backing up as the crowd got closer. With the intense stampede of people running, jumping, pushing, crawling, doing whatever it took to move forward, I thought they were running for gold!

Now I say people because there were a lot of parents coming with their children. Actually, it seemed more like the parents were picking up all the eggs while carrying their kids! Just one of the flaws to be improved upon next year.

It took several minutes to spread the eggs. It took several seconds to pick them up.

In fact, I think that most the eggs were gone after half a minute and the rest disappeared in the next thirty seconds!

After this fierce competition ended, eggs were scattered in the baseball field. While that was happening, Dad took advantage of the large crowd to give away several more prizes and after that to send his message.

He told the large crowd about why we celebrate Easter and why it even exists. Then he led them in prayer. After all this work, we had results: Dad, on a stage in front of a huge mass of children, leading them to Christ through prayer. Makes all the effort worth it, every time.

Already many kids were looking at the eggs. Many of them were missing the message that Dad was preaching. Then something really bad happened: with a communication mistake, the egg hunt for the older kids opened while Dad was still talking! It was a jumble of kids leaving or staying for a little longer. They rushed for the eggs and by the time I got there, most of them were gone. One other thing to make sure that doesn't happen next year...

We had one or two smaller egg hunts, and Dad talked a little longer up on the stage. He gave away bunches of prizes.

Eventually, the excitement cooled down. Kids recycled their eggs in large boxes we set up. Most people were happy. But, of course, there are always people who didn't like it or had a bad experience. Some kids never got eggs. Somebody missed the lunch. Someone never got this or that, or had a bad time because something didn't work right. On and on the list goes—you can never have an event that goes absolutely perfect. We listened and discussed these and other problems at a meeting we had several days later. But for now, it was time to close.

Everyone was tired and many of the helpers had left. But with some hard work, we who were left finished up in an hour or two.

Finally, the last item was loaded up. Exhausted and hungry, we stopped at a pancake house to eat. I had heard many complaints and was wondering: did we do everything the best we could? Could we have done it better?

 

But then the waiter who was serving us came over.  She told us that she had been at the bash, and that she and her kids had a wonderful time.  She went on to tell us how much she appreciated the effort and how honored she was to speak with us!  By the time she stopped talking, we all felt encouraged.

 

That was all I needed to be absolutely sure--we had done a great job.  And we couldn't have done it without the help of God.