It’s been going on for 28 years, the Lawler Easter Egg Hunt. It rivals the City of Mt. Pleasant’s Easter Egg Hunt which is on the same day, at the same time. But there’s plenty to go around. I caught up with Jean Lawler as she was frosting cookies for the Jerry Tolson Quartet, which is a benefit for the renovation of the 2nd Baptist Church in Mt. Pleasant, the oldest African American Church in Iowa. She’s baking 20 dozen cookies. So, Jean Lawler is known not only for her cookies, but also for the massive Easter Egg Hunt she and her husband, Matt, host each year at their rural Mt. Pleasant residence of 2600 Iowa Ave. Come one, come all! This year’s egg hunt will be the day before Easter, on Saturday, April 4th at or around 10:00 am. Jean makes the announcement and rings the bell when they can see no more people trooping toward their house. Some estimates have the number of people at around 300. Yep.

The Easter Egg Hunt started when their two boys were in Middle School and thought they were too big to go to an Easter Egg Hunt. So they had one. There were 10 or 15 kids, mostly from church. It grew from there. More people were invited and the Lawlers had a Prize Porch, where they gave away prizes.

Now there’s a 20′ x 40′ barn they moved in that’s stuffed full of prizes, and a 20′ x 20′ tent for games. It’s grown into such an event, it takes all of March to get ready. Besides candy in the eggs, there are tickets, five different colors of tickets, that designate what type of prize the child will get. By the time of the Easter Egg hunt there will be 8,500 eggs spread out in the pastures and woods surrounding Lawler’s home. There are so many eggs, that there’s no rushing of kids trying to beat others to the nest. They look like ants crawling over the hills. It’s all about the kids. When they leave, they’re the richest kids in the world. Right after Christmas, Jean has kids asking her about next year’s Easter Egg Hunt. The Lawlers even have second generation kids attending.

Susie Clark is Jean’s neighbor and sidekick. They shop year around at garage sales, flea markets and auctions. The next day after Easter, Jean will be at Walmart scarfing up the after-Easter price reductions. The Lawlers have Squishmallows, Nerf Guns, pogo sticks, helmets, baseball equipment, backpacks, gads of small toys and even replica Super Bowl and NBA Rings–Tom Brady and LeBron James! Also school supplies like tablets, pens, pencils, glue and crayons. At this time of year the students’ school supplies may be getting ratty, but the parent doesn’t want to buy new because it’s too close to the end of the year. School supplies are hot ticket items. It’s a hoot!

The kids are so courteous to each other because there are plenty of eggs to go around. If a kid comes late, other kids will put out eggs for them. If someone has a prize they really want, but doesn’t have the right color of ticket, someone will give it to them. If a kid needs a backpack, they get a backpack.

The First Presbyterian Church youth group, Press On, came out to help stuff 1,200 eggs with tickets. They were allowed to eat candy, and when they were done, it was Nerf Gun fights!

Once the Easter Egg Hunt starts, it takes about 20 minutes to get the eggs gathered up. All that work and it’s over–wing ding, thank you, Jean! Sometimes people give money to buy candy and prizes, and also bring eggs and little toys. The Lawlers might come home and find gifts on their back porch. It puts a smile on their face.

In years past, there has usually been a full size bunny in costume to entertain kids and adults. This year there will be a Mr. and Mrs. Bunny. How fun!

It’s a kind of Christmas for Jean Lawler. She doesn’t smoke, drink or run around. She’s an everything-to-the-max kind of gal. And a kid at heart.

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Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526 or email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com. Curt is available for public speaking.