Winter Storm Moves 66th Annual Easter Egg Hunt Indoors to TRAC

Back-to-back winter storms pulled the 66th Annual Easter Egg Hunt off the grass at McElroy Park and onto the field turf inside the Two Rivers Activity Center on Saturday, where the Jamestown Elks Lodge #995 and Jamestown Parks and Recreation kept a 66-year tradition alive despite the worst April weather Stutsman County had seen in years.

TRAC, at 1501 5th St NE, delayed its opening to noon after a second major storm system drove into North Dakota and South Dakota on April 3-4. The egg hunt proceeded at 1 p.m. inside the sports bubble, with three separate rounds split across two age groups: Pre-school and Kindergarten, and grades 1 through 4. The Easter Bunny was on hand for photos at $10 each, and prize giveaways rounded out the afternoon. Parents were not permitted to hunt alongside children.

The weather that forced the move was no minor inconvenience. An initial storm had already dropped more than 4 inches of snow in Jamestown on April 1-2, measured at the North Dakota State Hospital. Then a strong Colorado low pushed north, prompting National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Johnson to warn of "a pretty dynamic system bringing some heavy snowfall at times," with forecasters projecting an additional 7 to 14 inches for the Jamestown area through Saturday.

The indoor pivot carried historical weight. The 63rd Annual Easter Egg Hunt in 2023 was also relocated to the TRAC Gym when weather refused to cooperate, and the 2025 edition launched with a "weather permitting" caveat already attached. The 2020 hunt was the only edition in recent memory that didn't happen at all, canceled outright by the COVID-19 pandemic.

TRAC, owned and operated by the Jamestown Parks and Recreation District, absorbed the relocated event with ease. The facility's indoor sports bubble, the product of community planning that began in 2008, was built for exactly this kind of community need.