Searching for Easter eggs at Enchanted Island Amusement Park at Encanto Park (enchantedisland.com) in Phoenix is an annual event for children ages 1 through 10. The Easter Egg Hunt is free, and the children are divided according to age groups. You must come early to register your child for the appropriate group, and children must bring their own baskets. All eggs contain prizes, and there are 20 grand prize eggs. The event begins at 10:00 a.m. for 1-year-olds and continues every 15 minutes per age. The Easter Bunny is also there for pictures.
Initiated by Dolly Sanchez, a Community Action Program member and Parks and Recreation Board member, the Dolly Sanchez Memorial Easter Egg Hunt began in 1976. It began in a local park in Peoria and has grown so much that it is now held in the Peoria Sports Complex (peoriasportscomplex.com). The event is every year on the Saturday before Easter from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. It consists of eight candy hunt age groups, plus crafts, inflatables, pony rides and carnival games. The event is free if you bring a canned food donation for the St. Mary's/Westside Food Bank Alliance.
Participating in the Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Wildlife Zoo & Aquarium (wildlifeworld.com) in Litchfield Park is free if you pay for admission to Wildlife World. This is a two-day event and is broken into two age groups per day for the egg hunt. Children 7 and younger hunt first, usually in the early afternoon, and children 8 and older hunt next in mid-afternoon. Before or after the egg hunt, families may visit the zoo and the aquarium.
Celebrating Easter in a big way every year is Rawhide (rawhide.com), an 1880s western-themed attraction that offers an annual Easter Egg-Stravaganza and Spring Carnival from 12:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Rawhide is in Chandler, which is south of the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. The celebration consists of Easter egg hunts, pie eating contests, and kid games and crafts. Rawhide's "Cowboy Cottontail" is there (their version of the Easter bunny). There is also an Easter Brunch at the steakhouse.
