As his youngest daughter, Kimber, grabbed his giant index finger with her sweet, tiny hand while waiting for the start of the Saturday before Easter festivities at the Park County Fairgrounds, Dereck Hutzenbieler recalled thoughts of his own experiences with Powell's Easter tradition, when he was just a budding toddler.

His memories are spotty; the hunt was at Washington Park at the time. But as he looked over the thousands of colorful eggs, packages of candy and fun prizes in plain view of the hundreds of kids and their parents waiting for the starting whistle, he must have thought how lucky his kids have it.

"All we got were eggs," he said while tending to his flock.

Yet, he was overjoyed to be at the party with his handsome family. Kimber, 1, was joined by her brother Jameson, 3, and sister Hayven, 4. But one of their siblings, Stella, definitely won't remember the amazing bounty put forth by the Powell Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks.

His and wife Nikki's youngest daughter, Stella, is just about ready to enter the world. However, if she wants to excel at this Easter egg hunt, she better start training soon. Experienced kids aged 0 to 11 from these parts know speed is the most important tool for success if you want to get the best prizes.

Christi and Jeff Greaham were this year's event organizers. They and about 80 volunteers put prizes in thousands of plastic egg shells and then hid them in the grass with premium offerings like dolls, stuffed animals and toys. When asked the budget for the event, Christi simply answered "a lot."

It was all paid for by the Wyoming Elks Association as part of their outreach program, she said.

"Our biggest missions are charity and community service. This was one of Gary Sweet's favorite events that he started in his yard and just kept getting bigger and bigger," Greaham said, "This is where we are now. Us continuing to give back to our community."

However, the candy-crazed kids waiting for the countdown didn't think about anything except getting the prize they were eyeing from the starting lines. And when it was go time, the children cleared the fairgrounds faster than a Hoover can suck up spilled Fruity Pebbles.

"It takes us weeks to get this all done, and literally in three minutes it's done," Greaham said.

Jameson had a humble goal, wanting nothing more than one green egg. Kimber didn't know what she wanted, but she likes candy. Hayven is old enough to understand competition and disappeared into the scrambling sea of toddlers, raking in a full basket of prizes by the time she returned to her family with a smile of pure glee on her face.

But the prizes didn't stop there. The Elks also assembled 27 bicycles and about a dozen giant Easter baskets for an enormous party in Heart Mountain Hall. After the long, winding line for hotdogs, chips and sodas shrunk, everyone grabbed their raffle tickets, hoping to score one of the grand prizes.

The current Exalted Ruler of Powell's Elks Lodge #2303 is Ron Sweet, brother of the event's founder, Gary. Ron was honored to become the Lodge's leader and thrilled to be following in Gary's footsteps.

"He was just so excited about this," Ron said. "If we didn't get enough money for the bikes, he'd go buy the bikes himself."

In recognition of Gary's inspiring community service, the organization has now officially changed the name of the famous annual event to the Gary Sweet Memorial Easter Egg Hunt after Gary passed away on Jan. 17, 2025.