Early Easter : Outdoor Sunrise Service in Ojai Draws the Faithful

In the pre-dawn darkness at Libbey Bowl, blanket-clad worshipers trickled in to the amphitheater, coffee cups in hand.

Before the end of Sunday’s interdenominational sunrise service in Ojai, more than 100 people had assembled in a brisk chill to hear the Easter message delivered by Father Dennis Mulkey of the Ojai Valley Christian Center.

“I wanted to get services done so I can go surfing,” said Pat McCarthy, an Ojai electrician who brought his two daughters, Brie and Quinn, to Sunday’s early-morning observance.

“I’ve been coming the last couple of years,” he said. “It’s nice because they have all the churches here and not just one.”

Across Ventura County, people celebrated Easter Sunday with a host of observances, egg hunts and other traditional events, filling churches and reflecting on what the holiday means to them.

“They really like to see the Easter bunny,” said Jason Williamson, a volunteer dressed Sunday as the holiday hare and handing out scoops of chocolate eggs and jelly beans to excited children at St. Peter Claver Church in Simi Valley. “It enlightens them.”

Williamson said the holiday gives children a chance to feed their imaginations while learning about tradition.

“I think kids are exposed too much to reality,” he said. “They need to believe in fairy tales.”

But the church egg hunt was no make-believe story.

Thousands of brightly colored eggs awaited hundreds of children after the 10 a.m. service, although each child was limited to four eggs, which were exchanged for candy bars and other edible treasures.

Just behind the starting line of the 8- to 10-year-old section, Michelle Skinner of Simi Valley waited with her 9-year-old son, Jeremy, for the mad dash to begin.

“It’s not the candy,” she said. “It’s the fun of trying to get out there and get those eggs. It’s the mad dash to the eggs, and then to get the candy.”

Nearby, Tricia Stoller scanned the crowd, seeking out her two boys, Christopher, 6, and Thomas, 3.

“Even Christmas doesn’t get like this,” she said, referring to the sheer numbers of camera-clutching parents and sweets-seeking youngsters dressed in their Sunday best. “This is a really big crowd.”

For Jennifer Wilkins, 10, of Simi Valley, Sunday’s Easter egg hunt was her last. Next year, she will be over the age limit, but that didn’t concern her this year.

“You get four eggs and you get a handful of candy,” Jennifer said.

But she also knew the true spirit of Easter.

“It’s a time for loving your family,” she said, slipping a hand into her 3-year-old sister’s basket of candy.

At Libbey Bowl, where roosters crowed between the lessons of Mulkey, Chester Perry of Ojai listened closely.

“I’ve been coming here for years,” said Perry, an Ojai Valley mortician. “It’s a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus and, in my business, it’s nice to have faith. I see a lot of death, and this represents life to me.”

K. K. Chase, a sales representative from Ojai, said she had never experienced so intimate a sunrise service, which was attended by more than 100 people.

“It was nice to be outside for a change,” she said of the event. “And it’s nice to hear other pastors and be in a service where there are other faiths.”

Chase, who said it was her first time at the outdoor service, listened to the sermon as squirrels darted across tree branches enshrouding the amphitheater and dogs lay quietly by their owners.

“Usually it’s sunny and warm, so I’m not used to having rain,” Chase said. “But the animals and roosters are part of the chain. It’s part of Ojai.”

Fred and Nancy Bull of Sun City, visiting their children and grandchildren in Ojai, said they found the early-morning sermon uplifting.

“I liked the message of the Resurrection and what that’s all about,” said Bull, who came to the service with Squeaky, a charcoal-black Shetland sheep dog.

“She came to pray, too,” he said of the family pet.