As of press time on Friday, April 18, the Rankin Inlet Volunteer Fire Brigade was getting ready to host its annual Easter Egg Hunt on Williamson Lake on Saturday, April 19.

Rankin Inlet Fire Chief Mark Wyatt said the department was expecting between 300 to 600 people to attend the event.

He said the firefighters would be hiding all sorts of chocolate eggs and Easter treats, burying them in the snow and scattering them all over the place.

鈥淎fter the hunt, we'll be doing hot dogs and hot chocolate and just making it a fun day for everyone,鈥� said Wyatt. 鈥淭here might even be a bonfire happening this year.鈥�

Wyatt began organizing the Easter Egg Hunt after he moved to Rankin Inlet to accept the fire chief's position.

He said the egg hunt has been pretty good every year, and people really get excited about it.

鈥淚'm excited about it this year because it's getting nice and warm out now. We've done in it past years when Easter has been like -30 C and we're doing an Easter Egg Hunt. I mean, that's a little extreme, but this year I'm expecting the weather to be great.

鈥淎nother fun aspect of the egg hunt is that the parents seem to enjoy it all as much as the kids do.鈥�

Wyatt said during past years, they've divided Williamson Lake up into different sections for younger kids and older kids, but it seems the older kids go anywhere they want anyway, so they may try a different approach this time around.

鈥淚'm not sure how we're going to divide it up. It might just be a free-for-all all over the lake and see how it goes.鈥�

Wyatt said this year the Easter Egg Hunt has received some support from the Kissarvik Co-op and Home Hardware to some degree, and Arctic Connection did get the event a deal on some freight, as well. And, he added, the egg hunt has received support from the 快盈v3 Store in the past.

Even with the donations, he said it usually costs the fire department about $2,000 or $3,000 to host the event, as well as a lot of staff time.

鈥淚t's definitely a worthwhile event, despite the cost. It's a fun way to spend an afternoon and the kids really have a good time.

鈥淭he egg hunts are always set to start at about noon, but the firefighters volunteering their time to run the event will start getting things going around 9 a.m.

鈥淲e had between 400 and 500 people this past year, including kids and adults, and we're hoping to, maybe, better that a little bit this year.鈥�