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News you can use
Members of Havre churches carry a cross down Fifth Avenue Friday in the annual Walk of the Cross, held each Good Friday in commemoration of the Easter weekend. The walk started at First Lutheran Church and went to Messiah Lutheran Church, where services were held after the walk.
Children aged 7-9 blow past Greg Dugdale as he lifts a rope at the beginning of the annual Optimist Club Easter egg hunt Sunday at Optimist Park in Havre. A Havre Police squad car signaled the beginning of the hunt by sounding its siren from a hill above the park.
A participant in the ages 1-3 bracket picks an egg out of the grass during the Optimist Club Easter egg hunt Sunday at Optimist Park in Havre. Nearly all the eggs at the event were hand-dyed, but there were a few plastic eggs hidden out in the fields as well.
Alexa Buckridge, 2, wanders around looking for eggs Sunday at Optimist Park in Havre. Buckridge came to the event with her parents and siblings.
A dyed egg sits out in the sand prior to the beginning of the Optimist Club Easter egg hunt Sunday at Optimist Park in Havre. Two-thousand eggs were dyed Thursday to prepare for the event.
Dozens of children run around the baseball field to gather eggs Sunday at Optimist Park in Havre. The event was split into three different age groups so that everybody had a chance to get some eggs.
Havre Daily News Staff
Aside from some rain Saturday, most of this part of north-central Montana saw mild weather to help with Easter celebrations that were held over the weekend.
It was a major difference from Easter weekend last year, when the region was still recovering from one of the harshest winters in decades, that earned the dubious honor of being named Weather Channel's worst winter in the nation.
This year, celebrations started Friday, with Easter Egg hunts starting in the area that day - and going through the weekend - and with the annual Good Friday Walk of the Cross.
In that event, local pastors and their congregations gathers to carry a cross through town in commemoration of Jesus' carrying his cross to Calvary.
This year, the walk started at First Lutheran Church and ended at Messiah Lutheran, where services were held after the walk was completed.
Churches also held ceremonies over the weekend in observance of the holiest week in Christianity.
And, of course, the tradition of Easter egg hunts thrived in the area, with both indoor and outdoor hunts held in communities through the region.
One of the final Easter egg hunts of the weekend was held at Optimist Park Sunday afternoon.
Hundreds of children and parents gathered near the baseball fields in the park for a chance at collecting some of the 2,000 hand-dyed eggs lying out in the park. At the signal from a Havre Police squad's siren, children bolted toward the eggs and gathered them all up in less than seven minutes.
Optimist Club Treasurer Byron Ophus said the Optimist Club egg hunt is one of the oldest in the area, dating back before 1984, when he joined the club. He said the event stands out from other Easter traditions in the area because the Optimists still use real eggs.
Dyeing all 2,000 eggs took the club less than an hour Thursday, due to the hard work of club members' children and grandchildren, he said.
Ophus said he was happy to have good weather this year after the event was forced to relocate last year.
"God smiled on us with the weather," he said.
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