Easter 2016: Hundreds turn out for annual MCBQ Easter Egg Hunt

Marine Corps Base Quantico -- MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – Despite a few sprinkles of rain and the temperature hovering around 45, hundreds of children and their parents turned out for the annual Marine Corps Base Quantico Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. Originally planned for the chapel lawn, the event was moved to the Lincoln Military Housing office and yard when the forecast turned gloomy, according to Michelle Vukovich, deputy director for Marine and Family Programs within Marine Corps Community Services.

“We partnered with Lincoln Military Housing, which has been wonderful. We’re already talking about next year,” said Vukovich.

The rain held off long enough for MCCS and LMH staff, along with the firefighters of MCBQ station 531, to scatter the eggs in the grass and gardens. There was an initial limit of 12 eggs per child, but when it appeared that all the children had collected their limit, and there were still eggs left over, disc jockey Manny Vega announced everyone could “go pick up a few more.”

Vukovich and her staff held a large box of eggs in reserve for those children who came after the initial egg hunt.

Vega, who goes by the name DJ Manny V., is a retired Marine master sergeant who has “been helping out with base events for 17 years and D.J.-ing for 33 years.” He played a lively selection of family-friendly songs while the children searched for eggs and then waited in line to meet the Easter bunny. Every child who waited in line got to take home a free photograph and a small gift from the large cardboard Easter baskets nearby.

“We had a lot of great volunteers out here today, and we couldn’t have done it without them,” Vukovich said.

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ebaker@quanticosentryonline.com