BRADENTON BEACH – Anna Maria Island Moose Lodge 2188 held its annual children’s Easter party on Saturday, March 28.
The highlight of the party was the climactic Easter egg hunt that took place in the beach sand between the beachfront lodge and the Gulf. The festivities also included a visit from the Easter Bunny, games and activities, French toast sticks and an Easter cookie for breakfast and candy-filled Easter baskets as parting gifts.
Moose Lodge 2188’s annual children’s Easter party was limited to local and visiting Moose members’ children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and other family members. The party began at 10 a.m. and ended around noon.
“Today’s our annual Easter Bunny visit,” Lodge Administrator Byron Dalton said as he watched the children enter. “We’ve got about a hundred children signed up to see the Easter Bunny this year.”
Longtime lodge member Sandra Zenzel is the chairperson for the lodge’s annual children’s Halloween, Christmas and Easter parties.
“Sandra has been running this program for a very long time. She and her committee did a great job of getting things ready,” Dalton said.
“There’s 200 eggs in the small pit for the little kids – that’s the two-to-five-year-olds – and 200 eggs in the pit for the older kids, six-through 12. Each egg has 35 cents in it,” Zenzel said of the eggs several volunteers partially buried in the beach sand earlier that morning.
“We had a bunch of people helping out,” Zenzel said.
As they entered the lodge, each youngster was asked to guess the number of gummies contained in a reusable plastic water bottle that hung around the neck of the Moose mascot placed on one of the entryway tables. The children received activity sheets, stickers, crayons and a raffle ticket. Ten raffle ticket holders later won a crocheted bunny made by lodge member Janet Curran.
When announcing the winner of the gummy-guessing contest, Zenzel said a half-dozen or so kids correctly guessed there were 25 gummies in the water bottle. For the tiebreaker, each of the correct guessers were called forward and asked to pick a number between one and 10. Alex Czajkowski chose the number 7 and he won the tiebreaker and the water bottle filled with gummies. The other children who participated in the tiebreaker received Tommy the Moose stuffed animals.
When asked why the Moose lodge hosts its annual children’s holiday parties, Dalton said, “Our main job is to support the community and raise money for children and seniors at both Mooseheart and Moose Haven. This is one of our ways of reaching out to the community and serving our dues-paying members.”
Dalton was referring to the Mooseheart Child City & School residential childcare community, in Mooseheart, Illinois, that provides a safe and nurturing home for children in need; and to Moosehaven, the private membership retirement community in Orange Park, Florida, that provides seniors 65 and older with a comfortable and secure retirement option.
While making some announcements during the party, Dalton said the AMI Moose Lodge has 20,000 members and that’s the largest membership of any Moose lodge in the world.
When it was time for the Easter egg hunt, the children were asked to come outside and line up around the two designated areas where the Easter eggs were partially hidden in the sand.
When the Easter Bunny gave the command, the children raced to brightly colored plastic eggs and grabbed as many as they could during the five minutes or so the hunt lasted.
As they exited the party from the Gulf-front porch area, the children retrieved an Easter basket on their way out.
MORE MOOSE NEWS
The beachfront AMI Moose Lodge 2188 that sits along the Gulf shoreline was badly damaged in late September 2024 when Hurricane Helene’s powerful storm surge smashed through the lodge’s Gulf-front windows and doors and flooded the lodge. The lodge sustained additional damage during Hurricane Milton in early October.
The lodge’s social quarters (bar area) reopened on May 1, 2025, and the repaired and restored dining room opened a couple months later.
“We’ve been very busy since we reopened after the hurricanes. It’s good to see all our members coming back, and signing up new Moose members,” Dalton said.
The AMI Moose lodge’s next weekly Queen of Hearts drawing will begin on May 6.
Voting for the new Lodge 2188 board of officers will take place on Tuesday, April 14, from 3-7 p.m. At the end of the general membership meeting that evening the ballots will be counted and results will be announced. AMI 2188 member with a valid membership card are encouraged to visit the lodge that day and cast their votes.
Bradenton Moose Lodge 1223 will host its Thunderbolt 201 four-person scramble “three-club and a putter” golf tournament on Saturday April 25 at the Greens of Manatee Golf Course in Bradenton. For more information, call John at 941-504-1576.
On Tuesday evening, April 28, the AMI Moose Lodge will award scholarships to some deserving local students.
Become a member and learn more about the lodge acitivites, the weekly dinner specials and more at the AMI Moose Lodge 2188 website.
