By Mary Goldmeer
Mail

Easter in the West Valley features events for all ages, as two local cities prepare to host festive events filled with candy, crafts, photo opportunities and even a little history.

In Litchfield Park, families will gather on Saturday, April 12, from 9 a.m. to noon for Easter in the Square at 279 N La Loma Avenue. The Easter Bunny is set to make a grand entrance around 9:30 a.m., followed by egg hunts, a petting zoo filled with baby animals, face painting and spring-themed games.

The event is set to take place in the city’s newly opened Litchfield Square.

“Suddenly, it is the first day of Spring,” said Thomas Schoaf, mayor of Litchfield Park. “Our City is in beautiful condition, our special events and festivals (are) well attended, and we began the transition to using our new park. The new venue offers more room for our festivals, more convenient hookups for vendors, restrooms, and a dedicated area for entertainment. The park will become more and more popular as the surrounding development takes shape.”

Meanwhile, just a few miles away in Goodyear, the Hop & Hops Easter Festival returns to the Goodyear Recreation Campus at 420 S. Estrella Parkway on Friday, April 18, blending the old and new with egg hunts, sweet treats and an adults-only beer garden. The event, hosted by the City of Goodyear, runs into the evening and offers multiple egg hunts for different age groups and abilities.

“We want people to come out and have a good time,” said Dalton Attig, Goodyear recreation programmer. “When there’s more people out, it’s like something is in the air, something exciting.”

In Goodyear, families can explore themed egg hunt zones packed with colorful surprises and hop along the “Peep or Treat Trail,” where local businesses and organizations will be handing out goodies. The egg hunt schedule includes three standard hunts at 5:30, 6:30, and 7:30 p.m., along with a special adaptive egg hunt at 6:00 p.m. for children and adults with disabilities.

As egg hunters dash through parks, they’re taking part in a tradition that stretches back centuries.

The egg hunt may be a modern community event, but it draws on ancient traditions. According to Encyclopedia Britanica, eggs were revered in many pre-Christian cultures as symbols of fertility, rebirth, and new life, particularly during spring festivals celebrating seasonal renewal. The Catholic Education Resource Center reports that during the Middle Ages, eggs were often given up for the religion’s fasting period of Lent leading into Easter, and people would boil or preserve them for Easter Sunday celebrations. Over time, hiding eggs for children to find became a way to mark the end of the fast.

Today’s Easter celebrations, complete with plastic eggs, candy, and photos with a giant bunny may look different, but the events connect the participants to each other and the generations it takes for widespread traditions to form.  

Both Goodyear and Litchfield Park are carrying on the egg hunt tradition with family-friendly, inclusive events that celebrate the arrival of spring and the joy of gathering. For Goodyear adults looking to toast to the season, the beer garden become a new tradition, too.