Jubilation

Mackle Park hosted a big kids’ party Saturday morning – not a party for big kids, but a big party for little kids. The Spring Jubilee drew a throng of children and their parents, mostly from Marco Island but also from all over the country and the world, many of them out-of-town families visiting local grandparents.

The big draw for the kids, as they entered the park grounds, was the chance to scoop up Easter eggs, brightly colored plastic eggs each with some toy or candy inserted inside. The Parks and Rec staff continued the policy of “six stations, one egg per station,” eliminating the previous mad scramble when children raced out onto the field to grab as many eggs as possible.

“We had lots of complaints,” said Samantha Malloy, Manager of Parks, Culture and Recreation of the former setup. “Some kids got 10 or 12 eggs, and some got none.” 

Volunteers including John Rysak, who manned the first station along with his wife Kathy and MIA Key Club member Bridget O’Sullivan, kept repeating the ground rules to the waves of children showing up as they replenished their stock of eggs. It was a hard concept for many of the kids – taking just one when there were dozens lying all over the soccer field, but others were in tune with the new program. 

“They’re good – they remember from last time,” said the mother of Teagan and Brooks Cichon, five and three, respectively. 

Once they had reached their egg quota, children headed to the air-nasium and surrounding areas for more fun and games. They went inside to get their photo with the Easter Bunny, reached into a box full of sand to find an egg underground, and played ring toss at the booth “manned” by Carol Nemmers, Janette Price, and Anne Colville. 

The “bunny hop” sack races organized by Anne Elko inevitably led to spills on the turf, but the kids bounced right back up and kept going. DJ Dominic kept the tunes pumping and helmed the hula hoop and limbo contests. Balloon artist Mike Brousseau turned out an endless stream of poodles, swords and festive hats, all twisted out of brightly colored balloons. 

The children got their faces painted by MIA Key Club volunteers, including Lola Green, and their parents patronized the bake sale, with additional MIA students offering “all homemade” treats. Additional options for sustenance came from the Optimist booth, with hot dogs, chips and Sno-Cones. 

With all the focus on Easter eggs, you do have to wonder why the bunny gets all the attention instead of celebrating the Easter chicken!