Easter Bunny hops down Santa’s trail

6 — For five years now, Santa has had an offseason gig — he works with the Easter Bunny, to be sure that Vista continues its annual community Easter egg hunt.

This Saturday’s festivities, which begin at 9 a.m. at Brengle Terrace Park, are proof that Santa can juggle two jobs.

“Santa” is J.C. Wynne, a longtime Vista resident known for playing Kriss Kringle around town, including in the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Christmas parade.

The Vista booster — who was recently named the city’s Person of the Year and whose long white beard is real — says he couldn’t stand idly by five years ago when the city’s tight budget forced officials to slash the popular Easter egg hunt.

He stepped in and started raising money to make sure the event went ahead as planned, and has been doing so every year since. It’s a mission Wynne has dubbed “Santa Helps the Easter Bunny.”

“Santa wants the kids to have stuff all year,” Wynne said Monday. “Kids don’t understand budget cuts.”

With the egg hunt set for Saturday morning, this is a busy week for Wynne — but by now, he’s got it down to a science.

He has hired an organization in Alabama that employs developmentally disabled people to stuff Easter eggs with candy. About 6,000 eggs will be scattered at the park this year.

Wynne also hits local shops right after Halloween, buying up hard candy in bulk — and checking the expiration date to make sure its well within range to stay good long after Easter.

Between 80 and 100 volunteers help with the event.

“I’m just the ringleader, the guy with the big hat and the whip,” Wynne said.

When the city cited budget woes and nixed the 2011 Easter egg hunt, Wynne went walking door to door to small Vista businesses, asking for donations to keep the event going.

It has grown each year, he said. A few businesses around town help fund it, including A&D Glass, Prohibition Brewery and Vista attorney Herb Weston and wife Jackie, who themselves have lived in the area for 42 years.

“We feel that you need to give back to the community that gave to you,” Jackie Weston said. “It’s something for the kids to look forward to. You need some fun. It’s my way of kids having fun.”

The egg hunt is sponsored by the Pride of Vista Lions Club, a service organization, which supplies the insurance for the event.

“He (Wynne) is good at motivating volunteers,” Pride past President Eleanor Hutchins said with a laugh. “I twist a few arms, too.”

The city, too, has kicked in some money — $1,200 — and is providing tickets to the Moonlight Amphitheater and Wave Waterpark for the raffle that accompanies the egg event, and also waived the space rental fee for the park. But there are no plans at this time for the city to take the event over again.

Wynne, 56, has lived in Vista since 1960, when his dad was stationed at Camp Pendleton. He graduated from Vista High School — class of ’77 — and married his high school sweetheart.

In 1982, he spotted a newspaper ad about working as Santa. The gig stuck. He’s gone on to do loads of other community work with organizations throughout Vista.

In recent weeks, Vista tapped Wynne as “Person of the Year” for 2014, and honored him February with a proclamation listing his civic works.

“The word to describe JC is ‘doer,’ ” the proclamation reads. “When JC hears about a person in need — whether it is a child, teenager, adult, or senior — he will do anything to help that person.”