Mother Nature’s chilly weather couldn’t stop Parkway Plaza’s annual Easter Egg Hunt from bringing out hundreds of area families, including 2-year-old Isla Preister and her parents.
Little Isla, who just turned 2 a couple days prior to the event, collected seven or eight candy-filled plastic eggs of the approximate 1,300 that were scattered around the Plaza. Kids were broken into three age groups (0-3, 4-6 and 7-9) in different lawn areas so that everyone had a chance to collect some goodies.
“We were pleasantly surprised – it was a better turnout than I thought it would be,” said Isla’s dad, Joey Preister, of the Parkway Plaza Easter Egg Hunt attendance. “The more people, the better. It’s nice to see people out and about participating in community activities.”
The hunt itself was sponsored in part by numerous tenants of Parkway Plaza – kwELITE, Charter Title & Escrow, Applied Connective Technologies, VRLY Columbus and Aksarben Mortgage. Local service group Next Generation Kiwanis of Columbus also helped sponsor the festivities.
Although the hunt itself began at 11 a.m., the process to make it happen started much earlier. Eggs were stuffed days prior, and then a few hours prior to the start Aksarben Mortgage officers Leslie Larson and Guadalupe Arcos, Aksarben Mortgage processor Kate Paprocki, kwELITE Transaction Coordinator Sarah Lindberg and Marketing Director Matt Lindberg, along with a couple little helpers, packed the grass with colorful plastic eggs.
“I just feel it’s a great event for the kids to come out and have fun,” Arcos said. “It brings the community together.”
Larson said all the effort put in was worth it when seeing all the kids’ smiles as they collected eggs.
“I thought the egg hunt turned out great,” Larson said. “Aksarben wanted to be a part of this great community event to give back. To see the faces of kids is priceless.”
The egg hunt is just a small way kwELITE and Parkway Plaza strive to make a difference in the community, kw Broker/Owner Renee Mueller said. She said there is a great group of people who work in the building and that she was happy so many residents came out and had a good time.
Lindberg and kw Marketing Coordinator Megan Cimpl were busy taking photos throughout the hunt. He said he heard a lot of good feedback from community members in attendance, noting his appreciation to everyone who came out and all of the event sponsors for helping make it a success.
Preister said he and his wife, Misty Liss, were friends with many people in the building, including Mueller and Larson. He said they’re always wanting to support efforts by good people, noting they came across promotional efforts for the egg hunt on social media.
As for little Isla, he said the seven-eight glittery eggs in her basket were more than enough. In fact, there was probably a good chance her older siblings might sneak a few treats out of her basket.
“She’s good,” he said, smiling.
Parkway Plaza and the kwELITE team host numerous community events throughout the year. Be sure to stop by the office at 4471 41st Ave. Suite 202, for your real estate needs. Otherwise, call our office at 402-563-4663 to speak with any of our realtors.