It looks like Easter has come early for Ladysmith’s 1st Avenue.
On Saturday March 20, students from the Ladysmith Primary School along with volunteers from the Arts Council of Ladysmith and District (ACLD) decorated downtown Ladysmith with nearly 400 painted Easter eggs.
“It was so fun,” ACLD president, Kathy Holmes said. “Lots of people came out to help. The kids had a great time.”
This is not the first time that the ACLD has had a hand in decorating 1st Avenue. The ACLD has previously placed wooden poppies along the avenue for Remembrance Day, and recently placed scarves from trees on 1st Avenue as well.
RELATED: Ladysmith Arts Council creates Remembrance Day poppies for display
“They’re all different. As we bring new people in, like this year with the school involved, it brings a lot of people that are involved in this community,” Holmes said.
ACLD volunteer Steen Hjort cut out the wooden egg shapes single-handedly. Those eggs were then distributed to LPS students and participants in the ACLD’s Art Splash class.
Carlea Klimo is a community support worker who volunteers with the Art Splash class. Klimo said it was a challenge to distribute the eggs to all the class participants — Art Splash classes have been taking place on Zoom once a week, so supplies had to be individually delivered.
“We looked at various Easter egg patterns and ways of making them. From there everyone chose their own style. It was fun, everyone really enjoyed it,” Klimo said.
LPS principal Shona Sneddon echoed that sentiment.
“We’re really enjoying working with the Arts Council. We’re looking forward to maybe doing some clay work with local artists. We’re so excited about this first project and we’re looking forward to doing more over the years. I think this is only the start,” she said.
The 282 students at LPS created their egg designs and some of the LPS staff did as well for a total of around 300 eggs. Each class worked through their eggs at their own pace.
“They were excited about it, knowing that [the eggs] were going to be put up downtown and that they’d be able to see them,” Sneddon said.
Parents of LPS students joined the volunteer effort to put the eggs in various trees and shrubs downtown.
The eggs will remain up until April 6.