So first things first: The activity listings below are seriously outdated. We’ve received a note from a winery who’se getting a lot of calls asking about their hunt this weekend. Well, that was back in 2007. So please, check your local papers for events and activities near you.

Second, Happy Easter to all. Unfortunately, WalNUT Creek still can’t bring itself to utter the words Easter Bunny.  He’s just plain ol’ Bunny, and it’s a plain ol’ egg hunt. I guess it’s mere coincidence that it happens the Saturday before Easter.

I hope you’ll find an activity near you with the Easter Bunny that features real Easter Eggs.

Happy Easter.

Still looking for Easter-friendly activities in the East Bay? Here’s a list of events, courtesy of the Contra Costa Times, whose organizers aren’t afraid of the E-word.

Antioch Community Easter Candy and Egg Hunt.  Sunday, 2-5 p.m. Williamson Ranch Park. 925-778-0808. Free.

Easter Eggstravaganza Egg Hunt. Saturday, noon – 1 p.m. Cedar Mountain Winery, Livermore. 925-373-6636. Free.

Alice in Wonderland Easter Egg Hunt. Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Egg hunts and free golf clinics. This event is associated with the grand opening of the Lake Chabot Golf Course in Oakland.  510-314-3400.

Easter Eggstravaganza. Saturday, 9 a.m., Mountain View Christian Center at Liberty High School, Brentwood. 925-516-6700. Free.

Easter Eggstravaganza. Saturday, 10 a.m. Egg hunt and pancake breakfast. Todos Santos Plaza, Concord. 925-676-7177. Ext. 14.

Elephant Pharmacy Easter Egg Hunt. Sunday, 1-2 p.m. Elephant Pharmacy, Berkeley. Look for eggs hidden in nooks and crannies. 510-549-9200.

Livermore Easter Egg Hunt. Saturday, 1 p.m. It’s at winery; activities for kids and adults. Tesla Vintners. 925-606-9463. Free.

Pinole’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt.Saturday, 8:30-10:30 a.m. with multiple hunts. Photo opps with the Easter Bunny. Fernandez Park, Pinole. 510-724-8554.

Pleasanton Easter Egg Hunt.Saturday, 10 a.m. A $100 prize egg will be available for toddlers through 5th grade. Also, a $100 Hay Hunt for sixth through eighth graders. Amador Valley High School.

San Francisco Spring Celebration and Easter Parade.Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Union Street between Gough and Fillmore streets.

Cuddling Zoo and Easter Egg Hunt. Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.  Lots of activities: Cuddling with long-eared bunnies, baby chicks and ducklings. Easter Egg hunts at noon, 1:30 and 3 p.m. Free. Ritz Carlton Hotel, San Francisco. 415-296- 7465.

Dumb and Dumber Award: Seems that El Cerrito wants to compete with WalNUT Creek for the most clueless cities when it comes to naming the Easter Bunny. They offer a visit from a “very special bunny.” How sweet.

So in their most recent promotional announcements, they’re offering “pictures with a springtime character” — for a fee, of course. You can bet the kids are looking forward to that. “Mommy, can I have my picture taken with the springtime character?” Oh yeah, the city also urges people to “bring your own containers.” Apparently no Easter baskets allowed.  

A couple of area residents spoke up and criticized WalNUT Creek in letters to the editor that appeared in Sunday’s Contra Costa Times.  Beverly Dubrin sums it up nicely:  “I am not a Christian, but I enjoy an Easter basket filled with goodies as much as the next person, and I want it on Easter. If it were a Spring basket, I would have received it on March 21. ”

Contrary to the claims of WalNUT Creek officials, the Easter Bunny remains popular in other communities and hasn’t been banned. According to the CCTimes, kids in Brentwood had lunch with the Easter Bunny on Saturday.

And for those who want to see the Easter Bunny his weekend here are a few activities.

Saturday:

El Sobrante: Easter Egg hunt sponsored by the El Sobrante Manor Neighborhood Council  at 11 a.m., El Sobrante Elementary, 1060 Manor Road. Free. 510-222-5284.

Pinole: Multiple Easter Egg hunts at Fernandez Park 8:30-10-30 a.m. 

Livermore: The Easter Bunny is scheduled to make appearances at the Tesla Vintners Third Annual Easter Egg hunt at 1 p.m. Reservations requested: 925-606-9463.  For children 12 and under. Also: arts and crafts, live music, and wine samples for the adults.

Easter Sunday:

Livermore: Garre Winery’s Third Annual Brunch with the Easter Bunny at at the Martinelli Event Center. All you can eat buffet, $37.95 for adults; $17.50 for kids.

For those who want to avoid WalNUT Creek for Easter brunch, here’s a list of places that still welcome the Easter Bunny, courtesy of EasterBunnyDude’s friend VirgoBlue.

• We got a complaint five years ago. (Yeah, one! How many have you heard from in the last week?)
• Everybody else does it. (Wrong, by the way.)
• People are over-reacting. (In other words, we don’t want to hear about it.)
• Media are over-reacting. (Always a convenient scapegoat.)

But the most telling and disturbing comment may have come this weekend from the city’s designated apologist, who told the story of a local girl whose mother complained about the city’s Ban the Easter Bunny effort and who took a principled stand, vowing not to attend the Walnut Creek event.

Asked for his opinion, the apologist said: “How sad for the little girl.”

Yes, sad indeed. The girl’s mother took a stand on principle. Something to be deeply ashamed of.  (And as if the Walnut Creek event is the only one around.)

“I keep waiting for this story to die,” the city’s anti-Easter spokesman said in a front-page story in today’s Contra Costa Times.

That’s government in action. Or more accurately: Government inaction.

The spokesguy also lamented “This thing has been blown way out of proportion.”  

Let’s talk about something being “out of proportion.” After about 16 years of having a popular Easter Egg Hunt with the Easter Bunny, the city gets one complaint from one  person and runs the Easter Bunny out of town. Yet when it receives dozens of angry letters and phone calls criticizing the decision, it’s all those nasty letter writers who are blowing things out of proportion.

And then there’s this gem. “We’re taking the bullet for all those cities that have done this same thing.” Ya gotta love the “everyone else is doing it” excuse. The last time I heard that, EasterBunnyDude’s daughters spent the night in time out.

What a way to run a city. Hope problems go away by themselves. Blame the letter writers. And say “everybody else is doing it.”

I think city hall deserves a time out.

Is it my imagination, or did Colbert subtly pronounce the city’s name “WalNUT Creek” when he set up the story? You be the judge.

Do the math

In the form letter being sent to those protesting to city hall, city hall rabbit-rousters proudly note that their Easter Spring Equinox Celebration of Vernal Rebirth event has been a “wildly popular tradition for over 20 years,” and have acknowledged that the name change occurred four years ago  based on one complaint from one person. So I guess that means the event enjoyed wild success for 16 years, despite being burdened by the evil “E” word in its name.  Amazing.

Please keep writing!

Judging by the blog stats, a number of you are writing to City Hall. If you haven’t written, see below for contact information. It would be particularly great to get letters from Walnut Creek residents. While one complaint from one person a few years ago led to this silly name change, it appears it will take more than that to convince stubborn city officials to welcome back the Easter Bunny.

Contacting EasterBunnyDude

Responding to increasing demand — now totalling 3 requests — you can e-mail EasterBunnyDude directly at easterbunnydude@hotmail.com.

It’s now: “The spring equinox celebration of vernal rebirth.”

You can’t make this stuff up! That’s actually how Brad Rovanpera described it in an e-mail that he sent, signed by city manager Gary Pokorny. 

Can’t you hear the excitement in homes across Walnut Creek?

“Hey, Honey. Let’s take the kids to hunt for eggs at the Spring Equinox Celebration of Vernal Rebirth.”

“Yay, Daddy! Will the Spring Equinox Celebration of Vernal Rebirth Bunny be there, too?”

“We can only hope!”

At first, EasterBunnyDude thought that city officials might consider letting the Easter Bunny back in town. It’s unbelievable at the lengths — literally — people will go to avoid the dreaded “E” word. When people dig deep into a thesaurus to find language like this, it shows they’re burrowed deeper into their postion than the Easter Bunny burrows into his hutch in the off-season.

No word yet on whether they’ll organize a Spring Equinox Celebration of Vernal Rebirth parade. I can just hear Bing Crosby crooning the lyrics: ”In your Spring Equinox Celebration of Vernal Rebirth bonnet. With all the frills upon it. You’ll be the grandest lady in the Spring Equinox Celebration of Vernal Rebirth parade…”

So please keep writing. And tell your friends. Those of you in the Bay Area, please be heard. It’s time to take back the Easter Bunny.

Once again, here are the people to contact:

Mayor – Sue Rainey: mayor@ci.walnut-creek.ca.us

City Manager — Gary Pokorny: pokorny@ci.walnut-creek.ca.us, 925-943-5812

Arts Recreation and Community Services Director — Barry Gordon: bgordon@ci.walnut-creek.ca.us 925-943-5858 

Also, thanks to a Friend of the Easter Bunny who took the time and effort to obtain a more Easter Bunny-friendly domain name, making it easier to find this blog. You can also reach Friends of the Easterbunny at www.defendtheeasterbunny.com Two rabbit ears up for him!

With attention peaking, now’s the time to turn up the heat and make sure that Walnut Creek city hall understands how its harebrained idea is making the city a national symbol of political correctness gone crazy.

Several of you requested contact information for the city, so here goes. All this information comes from the city hall Web site, so we’re not providing anything that isn’t publicly available.

Mayor – Sue Rainey: mayor@ci.walnut-creek.ca.us

City Manager — Gary Pokorny: pokorny@ci.walnut-creek.ca.us, 925-943-5812

Arts Recreation and Community Services Director — Barry Gordon: bgordon@ci.walnut-creek.ca.us 925-943-5858

Give them a call, or send them an e-mail. If they listened to just one person five years ago, let’s hope they’ll listen to scores of us today. And let us know what they say. EasterBunnyDude will post the replies you send here.  

Bring back the Easter Bunny!

EasterBunnyDude is a resident of Walnut Creek, Calif., who discovered a few weeks ago that the city has banned all things Easter. No Easter Bunny. No Easter Egg Hunt. But we do have a Spring Bunny and a Spring Egg Hunt. Kind of like Whoville, without those whacky dwarfs. We live in the shadow of Mt. Diablo, named after the devil himself, which may explain a few things.

In the Easter Bunny vernacular, I was hopping mad. After my initial shock wore off, I scrawled a letter to the editor of the local paper, giving the needle to those harebrains who would give the Bunny the boot. And that was that. Or so I thought. Interest in this story increased like, well, rabbits procreating on Viagra. 

Within hours, the phone started ringing. First the San Francisco Chronicle, then a couple of Bay Area TV stations caught wind of the story. People in nearby cities called to share their thoughts. The Chronicle story appeared on other newspapers’ Web sites. Then Fox News, where EasterBunnyDude learned about makeup.   (Shaky-cam video and offscreen cackle courtesy of EasterBunnyDude’s daughter.) And more local radio, including KSFO. Satellite radio, too. All from one letter to the editor in the local paper.

I never planned for this kind of response, nor did I expect it. I’m not from the radical right, nor do I have any religious or political agenda. I’m just one guy who got tired of seeing traditions diluted and city officials cave to just one person — one person — who complained five years ago.

So while interest is hot, I started this blog to chronicle the Don’t-Call-it-the-Easter-Bunny saga. I don’t know where it’ll go or where it’ll end. We’ll just have to let the Easter Bunny run his course and hope that the Walnut Creek city officials come to their senses and see the light. Let them know what you think.  I’ll keep you updated. In the meantime, hare’s here’s the story of Easter, Walnut Creek style.

An Easter Bunny’s Tale

This is the story of the Easter Spring Bunny. And if you’re a good little boy or girl, and live near Walnut Creek, Calif., you can have breakfast with the Easter Spring Bunny and even take part in the bunny’s Easter Spring Egg Hunt. Don’t you just love hunting for Spring Eggs? They’re much more colorful than those drab Fall Eggs.

You see, Walnut Creek isn’t like all those other cities that invite the Easter Bunny to town. He’s just a little too controversial. We invite the Spring Bunny (because he’s a B-list celebrity, works cheaper and is in far less demand), and keep that nasty Easter Bunny from endangering our parks and harming our children. But that’s a good thing, because that gives the EasterBunny time to attend other events, like the White House Easter Egg Roll, run by people who aren’t as enlightened as those of us in Walnut Creek.

And if you like that, boys and girls, you’ll love Christmas the holidays. You see, Christmas the word that many use to describe that big holiday in December is a bad word in Walnut Creek, too. It’s tied to religion and that’s a bad thing. So every Christmas holiday season, we decorate a big tree downtown and call it the Christmas Holiday Tree. We put it up next to a very large Menorah, which is a symbol of Hanukkah for the Jewish faith. The two look very nice together, and allow people of different faiths to celebrate their traditions. But for some reason, Christmas that traditional word is a bad religious word, and Menorah isn’t. I suppose that’s because no one thinks that we should call the Menorah   it the Holiday Candelabra. And they’re right. We’ll just stick it to Christmas,  that commonly used word for now, anyway. Kind of like the Grinch.

So boys and girls, if you’re tired of traditional celebrations that welcome everyone, Walnut Creek is a great place to live.  Easter and Christmas Common names for holidays don’t exist here, and I hear we’re working on St. Patrick’s and St. Valentine’s Day those saintly offensive days in February and March, too. Word is that they’ll be replaced by Drink-Green-Beer-til-you-Drop Day and Give-Your-Sweetie-a-Rose-or-Else Day.  And we’ll all live blandly ever after.