Easter Egg Hunt Supports Downtown Businesses

The first ever Egg-Cellent Adventure Easter Egg Hunt will run from March 15 through April 3 in Downtown Santa Rosa. Over thirty businesses throughout the Downtown area are participating to provide families with a fun, socially distanced, spring activity. Participating businesses are in Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa Plaza and Railroad Square.

To join the adventure, families can pick up a passport from any of the participating businesses. Families will complete their passports when they get a sticker from each business and enter to win fun prizes, including gift cards and items donated from the participating businesses. The first three families to complete the passport will all receive prizes.
Participating businesses will have a large egg poster in the window and DowntownSantaRosa.org/egghunt will provide families with clues and a map to guide them to each business.

The concept was conceived by Bayside Church, the group that built all the parklets for Downtown restaurants last summer, a much-needed resource that kept many restaurants open during an incredibly difficult period.

Dan Ferguson, a Pastor at Bayside, said, “As we began to think about Easter, and what the church could do during a pandemic to celebrate this holiday with our community, we had several priorities but two jumped to the top of the list: fun for local families, and support for local businesses. Families with kids and small, locally owned businesses have been some of those hardest hit by the realities of this pandemic. There haven’t been many things to celebrate and there haven’t been many ways to have fun. Kids have been out of school for almost a year, many parents have lost their jobs or had hours cut, and local businesses are struggling to survive. In light of these challenges, our priorities (fun for families and business support) brought us to the concept of an Easter Egg Hunt.”

Businesses Downtown welcomed the support after the especially challenging year. Ame Van Dyke from ER Sawyer Jewelers and The Store Next Door said, “We are so excited to safely welcome our community back to Downtown Santa Rosa to enjoy the beautiful spring weather along with shopping and dining! The Egg-Cellent Adventure Easter Egg Hunt will be an extra fun event for families to take part in and we can’t wait to see and safely celebrate with everyone!”

The Downtown District brought similar opportunities to the community since the initial shutdown in March of 2020. Last summer the Open & Out program brought an infusion of art and outdoor dining opportunities, and at the end of the year Winter Lights created outdoor family scavenger hunts, art installations and even snow falling onto Jeju Way.

“The District wants to do everything it can to support our business and property owners as well as bring our community Downtown and remind them that Courthouse Square is a place for everyone”, said Cadance Hinkle Allinson, Executive Director of the Downtown District. “Bayside was an amazing partner over the summer – donating an incredible amount of time and resources to support our local businesses and now they’re doing it again. The effort, creativity and time they put into these projects has been life saving for our businesses, and that type of support during this challenging time is invaluable”.

Families can start and finish their adventure at any point from March 15 through April 3 and are encouraged to share photos of their hunt with @downtownsantarosa on Instagram.

Downtown Parking Garages currently offer free parking on the weekends and after 5pm, making it very easy for families to get Downtown, find free parking and visit the participating businesses.