April 4, 2007 — A giant, fuzzy bunny rabbit was seen dancing with second lady Cheryl Francis and crowds of screaming, laughing and smiling children at St. Croix’s Agricultural Grounds both Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
The dance, dubbed “The Bunny Slide,” was part of St. Croix’s annual children’s Easter egg hunt. Kindergartners and first-graders hunted eggs and danced Tuesday, while the second-graders had their chance Wednesday.
Each class poured in, one after another, for their turn at the Bunny Slide as Richard Nicks called out instructions to the children, teachers and dancing second lady.
“Somebody, somebody scream,” shouted Nicks, getting a chorus of happy, high-pitched shrieks back from the kids.
“I want to see you move. Teachers, that includes you. Step to the music, I guess you didn’t hear this is a bunny line,” Nicks said, urging the kids and teachers on.
Francis and the Easter Bunny, also known as Lamarr Jacobs, joined hands and danced in a circle with each class for several minutes, then directed each class to a nearby table while the next class came in for a dance.
In his thick, fuzzy Easter Bunny suit, Jacobs was definitely the hottest, and maybe the hardest worker Tuesday and Wednesday morning, dancing, playing and running around in circles for an hour in the well insulated head-to-toe costume.
“It’s a lot of fun and a chance to do something for the children,” said Jacobs.
“The Bunny Slide was my idea," said Francis. "With just a few steps that everyone can do, I thought it would be a lot of fun.” The Bunny Slide is pretty much the "Electric Slide" modified into a spinning ring.
“It’s all about bringing the kids together to have some fun and to do things together as a team. Working together we can do anything. Together we can,” said Francis.
After everyone had their dance, the children were eager to hunt for plastic eggs secreted around the grounds. When Nicks gave the go-ahead to start searching, a hundred young kids shot out in all directions as if they were Olympic sprinters, filling up their baskets as quick as they could. With teachers and parents watching to make sure no one wandered off too far or walked into the gut, the kids rapidly scoured the grounds, finding every blue, green, purple and red plastic egg.
When the time came, Nicks said to stop hunting and the kids brought their baskets up to be counted.
Francis gave out big baskets of toys and candies as prizes for the most eggs found and for the best homemade basket.
Among the girls, Nemesis Velazquez found 28 eggs, more than anyone else. Clearly a competitor, Velazquez also won for the best girls’ basket. Of the boys, Brandon Golden found the most eggs with 23, and Kishan Samuel had the best basket.
When the prizes were all handed out and the morning’s program complete, teachers rounded up their charges and brought them into the fairground’s indoor pavilion for an early lunch of hot dogs, peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches and punch before taking the children back to school.
The Easter egg hunt has been a tradition for many years on St. Croix.
“We’ve done an Easter egg hunt as long as I can remember. I did it, too, when I was a kid,” said Claude O. Markoe parent Sophie Eugene. Francis, too, remembered taking part in the ritual when she was a child on St. Croix.
In the past the egg hunt was a public, come-one-come-all event. This year the kids came directly from school, and the event was split by age group over two days. This was partly so the littlest kids wouldn’t be competing against larger, faster children. Several teachers said there were more children this year than last.
Francis wanted to give credit and thanks to everyone who helped sponsor the event. Allquest, Caribbean Auto Mart, Hovensa, Greenleaf VI, Seaborne Airlines, Plaza Extra, Marmarus, Reliable Rental and Cost-U-Less all made contributions to help bring about the festivities.
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