OXNARD : Easter Bunny Visits Pupils at Berry Hunt

The Easter bunny paid an early visit to a group of youngsters in Oxnard schools Friday, bringing them loads of fresh strawberries and a chance to play outside.

About 80 youngsters lined up on a grassy knoll behind the Carl Dwire School in Oxnard before dashing off to find hidden strawberries.

It didn’t take long--about 10 minutes--for the kids to find all 750 strawberries.

Susy Cueanas, 5, scrunched up her face every time she bit into a strawberry. It wasn’t because they were sour, the Oxnard youth said, but “because they taste good.”

Jennifer Lostutter, 6, of Oxnard had to be content eating candy. Her name tag included the notation: “Allergic to strawberries.”

“We wanted to make sure she could participate, but she can’t eat the fruit,” said Dwire school secretary Karen Seropian.

The strawberry hunt is an annual event sponsored by the California Strawberry Festival as a community service, said Eileen Stein, a spokeswoman for the event.

A woman dressed as a giant strawberry was introduced to the kids as “Super Strawberry.” And cartons of berries were stacked in piles around the grass hunt area.

Most of the strawberry hunters were kindergarten students from Christa McAuliffe School in Oxnard. About 20 were from Dwire school, a county-run school that specializes in education for children with mental and physical disabilities.

“It’s just wonderful to see the children’s faces light up when the hunt begins,” said Peggy Kenney, a teacher at Dwire school. “I love this event because our children are playing right along with the mainstream children. There is no emphasis on disabled or non-disabled.”

It was the third year that Strawberry Festival organizers have put on a berry hunt, Kenney said. And with forecasters originally calling for stormy weather, they were lucky to have clear skies, Kenney said.

“Somebody up there was looking out for us,” she said.