Easter Bunny Makes Early La Verne Showing

Wishes Boutique owner Boni Wish with her son the Easter Bunny. Who knew?

One of the beauties of Easter week is you never know where the Easter bunny and his friends are going to show up. The latest bunny sighting took place in downtown La Verne in the grassy courtyard on Third Street between Wishes Boutique and Peek a Boo.

Rachelle Babaoka brought daughter Naomi along to introduce her to the niceties and nuances of her first Easter egg hunt. Easter eggs are not to be thrown, swallowed or stepped on, she explained, but rather to be cracked open gently where inside lay a cluster of candy. Of course, real rabbits don’t lay eggs, but that’s another story.

Tuesday’s bunny trot was just a prelude for Sunday’s big event. “We’ll get the family together, go to church in the morning, have a big feast, and have a big egg hunt for the kids,” Rachelle said.

Donica Hakala and son Hayden and Yvette Bowers and daughter Avery are all cuddles for Easter. Donica and Yvette, owners of Peek a Boo in downtown La Verne, helped host the eggstravaganza.

The Easter Bunny reportedly was Boni Wish’s son, but before LaVerneOnline could make confirmation, the large white furry animal with floppy ears hopped away.

Pierre Berton, a French student interning with the La Verne Chamber of Commerce for the next four months, said his country did not celebrate the Easter bunny.

“We have no such Easter bunny,” Pierre said. “I think we need this holiday in France.”

It was a full house for the downtown La Verne Easter Egg Hunt, hosted by such hippity-hopping merchants as Wishes Boutique, Peek a Boo and Serendipity. Here in search of the Easter Bunny are Tashanda, Keanna and Don Seiji, Lauryn, Dylan and Riley, along with Yvette and Avery Bowers and Rachelle and Naomi Babaoka.