Karen Wils photo That’s me in 1973 and the wonderful Easter basket that I won.

ESCANABA — Easter season is such a joyous time for me.

It is of course the most holy, happy day of the whole Church year.

Springtime is just beginning to arrive in the North Woods. Bunnies, chicks, tulips and colored eggs fill the season with glee.

Back in my younger days, Easter was a time for church, family gatherings, basket searches and egg hunts.

One of my very favorite Easter events took place when I was in 5th grade. I belonged to a Girl Scout troop back then. All of the troops in the Peninsula Water’s district got together for a big spring fun day and Easter egg hunt. It was held at Pioneer Trail Park in the west portion of the park where it was heavily wooded with a few tables and trails. (This area on the west side of the highway is now the DNR office building.)

About fifty or sixty of us girls cooked on our “buddy burners” that we made out of a coffee can, a tuna fish can, corrugated cardboard and wax. We said the Girl Scout pledge with nearly a dozen troop leaders. My best friend’s mom, Mrs. Reno, was our leader.

Then it was time for the egg hunt. We were told that the Easter bunny hid tons of colored eggs (actual hard boiled dyed eggs) in the woods and one special “silver egg” was out there too. There would be a prize for the girl who found the most eggs and the girl who found the silver egg.

All of us gals dashed off wildly into the muddy slightly snow cover April woods. We were finding eggs everywhere under trees, stuck in rocks and roots and in the leaves and snow. So many eggs were found and our leaders called us together.

They took note of what everyone found. The silver egg was still missing. The silver egg was still out there. Our leader said they’d give us all 15 more minutes to search for this treasure. The girls ran off all willy-nilly.

Not me, I cheated. I realized that the Easter bunny’s helper had to have left some tracks on the wet ground. So, I followed the tracks that lead the farthest away from the picnic area. It was a skill I had already learned form being at our family’s camp.

Sure, enough I tracked the big prints right to a hollow stump with a silver egg hiding in it. I won a green Girl Scout wallet that I treasured for years.

Fast forward now – when I am 14 years old my mother’s church circle group (ladies guild) would have its annual fund raiser at Easter time. The Bishop Baraga Circle group would raffle off the biggest, prettiest Easter basket ever. It was put together at Sayklly’s Confectionery. It contained fudge eggs, a solid milk chocolate rabbit, a tiny sewing kit scissors, thimble, spools made out of foil wrapped chocolate, malted milk eggs, flocked little yellow chick toys, a white velvety rabbit toy wearing a pinafore and so much candy.

I spent a dollar of my babysitting money and won this wonderful item that to this day some of the toys still decorated my parents house at Easter time.

And boy I could bribe my brothers with all of that candy.

Have some Easter fun. Blessings and best wishes for a wonderful Easter season. Chris-tos-vos-krese.

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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.