For 16 years, the annual Easter 'Eggs-travaganza' Easter Egg Hunt has been held on the oval at the University of Montana campus, but that will change in 2017, as the event is being moved to Rollin Field at Loyola Sacred Heart High School.

Carey Shimek with University Relations, long-time organizers of the event, said the move was necessary to better utilize UM staff and facilities.

"It's basically about strategic use of our  limited resources," Shimek said. "The egg hunt is a wonderful event and it creates a lot of good will for the University, but it happens in one day, and it really happens in less than five minutes. It takes a lot of staff time to pull it off, staff time that we'd rather use for marketing UM to the public, to prospective students, to our donors. We need to time to work on social media and create news stories for the media."

Shimek said all the credit for the 'Eggs-travaganza' over the last two years has gone to one family, the Burks family, owners of the Garden of Read'n Christian Bookstore.

"I just want to say that Michael and Kiomi Burks are the heroes in this," he said. "Two years ago, we had a hiccup in preparation for the event, and Michael and his family stepped in and purchased all the eggs and just made it happen. This year, we were thinking about cancelling the event altogether, but they would have none of it. They're the ones that reached out to Loyola and made sure that this great community event keeps going on."

So, this year's event will be held on April 15 at 1:00 p.m. at Loyola Sacred Heart High School's Rollin Field. The age categories will remain the same as in years past, 0-2, 3, 4-5, 6-7 and 8-9, and the Easter Bunny and other well-known mascots will be on hand to greet the children.

Another positive effect of moving the event, there will be much more parking available at Rollin Field than the limited space on the UM campus.

Shimek said staff will be on hand at the UM Oval to redirect Easter egg hunters to Rollin Field.

The event is free to the public and Loyola Sacred Heart High School students and St. Joseph Elementary and Middle School students will help stuff Easter eggs as part of their commitment to community service.

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