Chelsea kids scramble for eggs at Chelsea Community Egg-stravaganza

By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

CHELSEA ­­– In the midst of chaos with kids running all over the front lawn of Chelsea City Hall, eggs were collected and laughs were heard during the Chelsea Community Egg-stravaganza.

The city’s annual egg hunt took place on Saturday, April 19, allowing children and families to come together to get a taste of Easter festivities before church services on Sunday. To make it an even bigger event, it was co-hosted by three of Chelsea’s local churches—Redemption Church, Freedom Family Church and Chelsea Church of God.

This was the first year that the three churches banded together to throw this celebration, and to their leaders, it was a huge success.

“We are so excited because Chelsea community is just a family-oriented community and it just means a lot for everybody to be out here and celebrate what Easter is all about,” said Rebecca Newman, children’s pastor at Redemption Church.

The bonanza welcomed over 200 kids to Chelsea City Hall to spread the joy of Easter, have fun and enjoy optimal weather, culminating in the frenzy that was Easter egg hunt.

“It’s a beautiful day and it’s just great to see (the kids) out here,” said Kim Bradley, student pastor at Chelsea Church of God. “You start having fun with them and telling them all what to do, you don’t even care.”

The festivities kicked off a 1 p.m. with the kids getting time to have fun at the inflatables, a face-painting station and a petting zoo before everybody gathered around at 1:30, when Newman took the time to present the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

After the story, the organizers counted down from 10, and the kids dashed around the front lawn to gather as many eggs at they could, with some of them being filled with prizes.

According to Bradley, seeing the smiles of everyone involved, from the kids to the parents, made all of the work that went into setting the event up worth it, allowing for a joyful afternoon.

“It meant a lot because they cared enough,” Bradley said. “They care enough about the season, they cared enough about being here in our own hometown to just come and have fun and be casual and laid-back. It was so stress-free for everybody to come out and everybody got along. If anybody needed help with anything, people were here to help. It was just a fun time all around.”

With all the fun that everybody had on the day before Easter, the churches desired for everyone to leave knowing about the true meaning of the holiday, something they felt they were successful in.

“We just wanted to teach them what the true meaning was,” said Savannah Stephens, children’s pastor at Freedom Family Church. “It’s not about the bunny, it’s not about the candy. It’s about Jesus, our Lord and savior. We wanted to make sure the kids really had that motive and we had a motive of why we did this.”

After all of the success that the 2025 Chelsea Community Egg-stravaganza had, Stephens hopes that it will continue carrying into next year as it became an event that all three churches want to continue putting on.

“I think we will grow from this point on,” Stephens said. “Every single church, we plan on doing this every year I hope from now on. It was a great turnout and the smiles and the love that we all are sharing today, that was the main point of it.”