Storybook weather greeted hundreds of youngsters at Riverside Park Sunday for an assortment of Easter activities hosted by Iola’s First Assembly of God Church.
Children flocked to a series of game stations, from tossing rings onto bottles of soda, rolls of toilet paper into a modified toilet seat or stringed hoops onto hooks; using a lid from a plastic bin to “blow” small eggs across a finish line; or other games, such as plinko.
Sunday’s activities — the third such year the church has hosted a community Easter event — marked a change in its start time, noted Assembly of God’s Steve Anderson.
“The last two years, we did this in the morning,” Anderson said, referring to the church’s attempt to prompt folks other than church-goers to partake in Easter events. “But as we thought about it, we realized it really wasn’t fair to those who do go to church.”
On Sunday, having the activities at 2 p.m. allowed all to take part, and the crisp, spring weather made the goings-on comfortable for all.
Youngsters scoured the park grounds for plastic eggs filled with candy or notes garnering the children even bigger prizes.
In addition, drawings were held for everyone in attendance — adults included — with children receiving one of six bicycles, adult women winning a day spa package and adult men winning a custom B&W trailer hitch.
Anderson stressed the event wasn’t an attempt to spur folks to attend Assembly of God.
“We’re not interested in asking them to come to our church,” he said. “We just want them to go to a church. We’re all in this together.”
