From egg hunting to cookie decorating, turnout was the highest in years
By PIPER AWEEKA — city@theaggie.org
On Saturday, April 20, the Davis Odd Fellows held their annual Breakfast with the Bunny event. As doors opened at 9 a.m., guests were met with a buffet of fruit, muffins, cereal, yogurt and more. With a parade followed by an easter egg hunt, face painting, cookie decorating and carnival games, the Odd Fellows brought Easter magic to Davis families.
Matthew Elliot, the Odd Fellows chairman of the event, explained the charitable motivations behind the breakfast.
“This is just one of the many events,” Elliot said. “This one in particular brings in around 120 kids and parents to enjoy breakfast with the Easter Bunny. All that money we generate goes to the Davis Campership Fund, which subsidizes underprivileged children to go to various city activities that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. That would include pool passes or the Explorer Science Center, local camping trips and more.”
Elliot went on to describe his own story of joining the Odd Fellows and how this celebration is particularly special to the community.
“The event brings treasured memories to children for years to come,” Elliot said. “We have parents who talk about their adult children who did this when we started 15 years ago, who talk about how their kids mention it all these years later.”
Ed Lewis, a member of the Odd Fellows organization, stood outside the event and chatted with families waiting in line for breakfast. Holding an intricately carved wooden stick and wearing a vibrant multi-colored button-down shirt and alien antennae hat, Lewis explained his background and endearment toward the event.
“Today I’m the Easter alien,” Lewis said. “I was one of the [people] that started this quite a few years ago, and now a good friend of mine [Elliot] has taken it over, and he’s doing a great job. […] We want to give back to the community, and we want to involve families and children.”
With Lewis and other Odd Fellows setting up over 800 candy-filled easter eggs at the Davis Community Church by 11 a.m., children were running circles around their exhausted parents.
Kristen Badum, a mother and Davis resident, highlighted the admiration local parents hold toward the yearly Easter breakfast.
“It’s a really fun local event,” Badum said. “It’s great because living in Davis, [the kids] being able to see their friends and our neighbors. […] [Also] getting to have some food, and then there’s an Easter egg hunt and having it within the community, that’s the big reason why we’re here.”
Tiffany Eschbach, another Davis mother, highlighted the popularity of the breakfast, even amongst those who are not yet annual attendees.
“This is our first time coming to the event,” Eschbach said. “We’re gonna be out of town on Easter, and so we were looking for activities, and this looked like so much fun.”
As the activities began winding down, Elliot emphasized the success of this year’s breakfast.
“We’ve had the biggest turnout we’ve had in years,” Elliot said. “The kids are having a wonderful time, and the parents are pooped and sitting in the corners. It was an outstanding success.”
Written By: Piper Aweeka — city@theaggie.org
