Bunny Trail, Kinsmen egg hunt coming up

Save a very important date in your calendars because the annual Bunny Trail and Kinsmen Egg Hunt are returning to the Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Centre on April 8, with almost 8,000 chocolate eggs to be distributed.

The event, put on by Niagara Nursery School and Child Care Centre, in partnership with the Niagara-on-the-Lake Kinsmen Club, will include a bake sale, activities, an Easter photo booth, and the ever-popular Touch-a-Truck.

“We are finalizing the confirmation from the fire department and we will also have some big construction trucks,” said Laura Townsend, Niagara Nursery School fundraising director, about the child-friendly Touch-a-Truck activity.

“The Niagara-on-the-Lake Kinsmen hold their Easter egg hunt in tandem with our event each year,” said Candice Penny, executive director of the nursery school. “The Bunny Trail has become a much beloved annual tradition for our community.”

“This is the 46th year for the egg hunt,” said Kinsmen executive member Ken Slingerland. “We missed two years because of COVID and came back last year. Last year was a really good crowd.”

The egg hunt starts at 10 a.m. sharp, and the three age groups (under three years old, four to six and seven to nine) start at the same time. “Parents are welcome to go in with the under-three age group,” said Slingerland who added that the Easter Bunny will be there for photo opportunities after the egg hunt.

“We are buying 60 kilograms of eggs this year and we will go through them all,” said Slingerland. “Each and every year we get close to 500 children.”

The Bunny Trail event will kick off what will be a year of celebration for staff, students, and the Niagara-on-the-Lake community. “With the nursery school's expansion opening during the height of COVID, the staff and students are looking forward to what the 2023 year will bring,” said Penny.

“We are currently busy working on many upcoming events for our school, including a celebration for our 50th anniversary, which we have had to delay due to COVID. With life getting back to ‘normal’, we are looking forward to finally marking this momentous occasion properly,” Penny added.

A new addition to the nearly 30 year-old Bunny Trail is a petting zoo, said Townsend, but not the kind involving bunnies, ducks and chickens. “The Niagara Symphony Orchestra is going to set up their ‘petting zoo’ with a bunch of different instruments for the kids to explore.”

Townsend hopes to exceed last year’s crowd of over one thousand people visiting this event. Activities and bake sale run from 9:00 - 11:30 AM with the egg hunt starting at 10:00, rain or shine. The cost for the Bunny Trail is $5.00 per child and $15 for three or more children.  The Easter egg hunt is free.

All funds raised from the event go back directly into programming and much-needed educational resources, such as updated tablets for classrooms as well as equipment for three playground spaces.

“As a not-for-profit, we rely greatly on our fundraisers each year,” said Penny.

For more information on the Bunny Trail, or to sponsor the event, visit www.niagaranurseryschool.ca.