Thousands expected to celebrate Easter at Fresno city parks

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Thousands of people were expected to fill Fresno city parks today to celebrate Easter Sunday.

"It's awesome to see all the kids. I think we had over 3,000 eggs this year, and as you can tell, the kids love it," said Jessica Rodacker of Victory Outreach Fresno West Church.

Rodacker says the church plans to feed at least 200 people on the Spring holiday.

Officials expect thousands of people to flock to city parks. Easter and Mother's Day are two of their busiest holidays of the year.

"We have our 20 Park rangers that are in the city of Fresno Park. So they'll be out and about this weekend, patrolling our parks. We also have Fresno PD, our patrol units out at the various parks, making sure traffic is flowing," said City of Fresno Parks Director Aaron Aguirre.

He said the city has an extra 75 people on staff for the holiday rush.

"We typically have our parks reach capacity as far as parking capacity. That's somewhere about 1,300 to 1,400 vehicles at both Woodward Park and Roeding Park," said Aguirre.

One of the people who had trouble with parking was Visalia resident Efren Casas. He had to arrive early Sunday morning to secure a spot, but he says it was all worth it in the end.

"A little food here to eat, and then play some soccer, some games, also with the rackets, play, and have some fun," said Casas.

The city says the extra staffers on hand will also be offering trash bags to parkgoers and helping people keep the space clean.

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