| Eggstravaganza! |
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| Valerie Reid | |||
| Monday, 05 May 2008 | |||
 On Easter Sunday March 23rd, 2008, the Tampa Bay Church hosted its fourth annual Easter Eggstravaganza at Copeland Park in Tampa, Florida. This year’s event brought out a record number of church members and their families, as well as visitors from the surrounding communities. There were people of different cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, and nationalities at the event, sharing one common purpose 'to have a great time.' The day was sunny and clear without a cloud in the sky and the Tampa Bay Church volunteers were busy entertaining curious parents and their children. The participants of the Easter egg hunt eagerly awaited the chance to win the prized egg, and possibly fill their baskets full of candied eggs along the bunny trail. The smell of barbeque grilling filled the air. One by one, everyone lined up at the grill and exchanged meal tickets for hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, and a drink. After serving the meal, the children were encouraged to try their luck at the mini carnival. The carnival consisted of seventeen, age-appropriate, sport games designed to challenge each child’s hand–eye coordination and level of fun. The water race was the highlight of all the games. Parents, children, and volunteers participated in the water race. Children counted their winning tickets in exchange for cool prizes. While the children were busy playing the games, the parents were also busy at the tattoo table, picking out colorful butterflies and woven flowers to decorate their cheek or ankle. Some parents were decorated with more than one tattoo. The children enjoyed watching their parents have fun too. At the bake-off table, there were a number of contestants waiting to find out who would be 1st place baker of the year. The 1st place winner made a mouth watering banana pudding topped with butter milk cookies – Congratulations goes to Phanta Avery. Latifa Davis came in second place displaying a playground made out of cake and candy and the third place winner was Stephanie Grant. The DJ, Ron Michael, had the most tedious job of keeping the children moving and wanting more fun. The tunes were mixed with laughter and camaraderie. Some children stayed right next to the speaker dancing to beat of the music. The event ended announcing Malik and Elijah as the winners of the egg hunt and Aiysha Levy as the winner who guessed the closest number of jelly beans in the jar. There were also prizes for volunteers who were randomly picked from a drawing – Congratulations Cindy, Tanya, and Dericka. Finally, a number of the volunteers who served at the Easter Eggstravaganza are from The Tampa Bay Church’s single’s ministry. Kudos… kudos… and more kudos go to the singles ministry, and some married couples who played an integral role in making the event a success. Again… Thank you.
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