Nearly every year since 1953, kids on Easter Sunday in Columbia Falls eagerly wait for the “go-ahead” to start snatching up eggs.

Children run around, some with baskets in-hand, picking up eggs placed by the Columbia Falls Lion Club members for the traditional celebration.

Lions Club former president and Membership Chairman Steve Melby is involved with putting on the annual egg hunt.

“We meet at 11 in the morning on Sunday to set up and generally, we're done around 12 but we want to be ahead of the kids. So we're there a couple hours and within five minutes, it’s completely picked,” Melby said.

The Hungry Horse News reported on the first egg hunt which took place at Old Town Park, now known as Fenholt Park, with “200 youngsters showing up to collect about 900 eggs.” Photos from the story show that white rabbits were given out as prizes for children.

Some unexpected guests helped put out eggs, too. Professional wrestlers from around the world were in town for a match held at Columbia Falls High School on April 11, 1953. That Sunday, some of them decided to pitch in and hide some eggs for the local kids — a photo-op that Hungry Horse News founder Mel Ruder did not miss.

The hunt has been canceled a few times over the years because of deep snow and cold. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Lions Club held a drive-thru hunt with families picking up prepackaged eggs with candy.

After about seven decades of the hunt, Melby said, the Lions now have 3,000 eggs to hide. Though you won’t get a white rabbit today, plastic eggs are filled with candy and others filled with tickets for bigger prizes that children can turn in after the hunt.

It’s a lot of eggs, no doubt, but Melby said club members split them up and take them home to fill them. It’s just one event that the Lions work to facilitate throughout the year.

“The lions are quite active, internationally. We’re just doing what we said, ‘we serve’ you know? Whatever needs to be done, we're there… We're running several dozen projects a year,” Melby said.

A club member since the 1980s, Melby has remained dedicated to being a Lion. In 2021 and 2022 he received the International Lions President Awards for “fulfilling the mission of Lions Club International.” He said his and other member’s efforts to bolster club membership did not go unnoticed by the international arm of the organization.

Around five years ago, the Columbia Falls Lions had dwindled down to having under 10 members. It’s an issue with many Lions Clubs, Melby says, as older members die or stop participating there aren’t as many young people to take their place. He said at the time, the club had a choice to “pack it up or go for it.”

“We weren’t quitting, I wasn't quitting, until we mapped out a plan to get younger people involved because we know they want to help. It's a matter of how do you ask them? Where? How do they find out about us? Or how do they contact us? People want to help, but they're afraid to reach out,” Melby said.

Now, their club is back up to having around 30 members of all age groups. In addition to the Easter egg hunt, the club supports local Scout groups, scholarships for high school graduates and school supplies among many other projects.

They also put up the Christmas lights around town. Last year, they were contacted by the owners of the Klothes Kloset who informed them that they were looking to get rid of the old Christmas lights that used to be hung from street lights. The Lions ended up advertising them for sale and donated the proceeds back to the consignment store. They had so much interest, Melby said they had to raffle off the lights instead of selling them outright.

It’s an example of their motto, says Melby, “to serve” means the Lions are always willing to lend a helping hand.

“We're constantly giving back to the community wherever asked. We pick up donations every Monday morning at Super 1 and deliver them to the food bank. Then we'll get several calls a week, can we go down there and pick something up? Or can somebody deliver something to someone?” Melby said.

The Columbia Falls Lion Club’s Easter Egg Hunt begins at 1 p.m. “sharp” at Marentette Park on April 9.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Columbia Falls Lions can attend their regular meetings which start at noon on the first and third Thursdays of every month at the Nite Owl Back Room Restaurant.

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4433 or by emailing tinman@dailyinterlake.com.