Luke hops into Spring Fest

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Darlene Seltmann
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Thousands of vibrantly colored eggs covered the ground April 12 at Fowler Park as Luke Air Force Base families participated in Easter activities during the annual Spring Fest event.

The fun-filled event included egg hunts divided into appropriate age groups, face painting, horse-drawn wagon rides, an inflatable obstacle course, a petting zoo and refreshments. And of course the Easter Bunny and Sparky the Firedog showed up to bring smiles to children's faces.

"What's great about this event is it helps get the kids out of the house," said Staff Sgt. Ross Adams, 309th Aircraft Maintenance Unit weapons load crew chief. "My children especially loved the obstacle course."

Months of planning and coordination go into making base events like this successful.

"We started coordinating this particular event about two months in advance," said Eric Caley, 56th Force Support Squadron community event planner. "We have to reserve the park far enough in advance to ensure availability and have enough time to get our contractors.

"This is a great event for getting families out to enjoy the beautiful weather and just have a good time," he said. "This is just one way the force support squadron is able to give back to the base community and Luke families."

An estimated 8,000 eggs were used during the event. This included the eggs scattered across the softball field for children to collect and also the bags of eggs filled with candy that were given for the children to take home.

"The best part for us was the egg hunt because we weren't expecting our son to get many eggs, but he ended up filling his basket," said Anna Mercado, wife of Master Sgt. Victor Mercado, 56th Equipment Maintenance Squadron production superintendent.

Approximately 1,000 guests came out to the Spring Fest event and partook in the festivities.

"My favorite thing about events like these is seeing them from start to finish," Caley said. "There is no better feeling then seeing the families having such a great time at the event you spent months coordinating. It makes my job all worthwhile."