Ma'ili — Among the many colorful Easter egg hunts happening all around the Islands this weekend, the one starting at 2 p.m. today at Ma'ili Beach Park is a standout.

The 9th Annual Biggest Egg Hunt, as it's billed, is more extravaganza than hunt — featuring between 4,000 and 5,000 plastic Easter eggs and as many as 2,000 children dashing about to snatch them up, hoping to get one marked for a grand prize.

"And every single child comes out with a prize," said Jay Amina Sr., pastor of the Ark of Safety, the nondenominational Christian fellowship that organizes and sponsors the event.

"Not one goes home empty-handed."

Some will go home with more than they can carry in both hands. Among the grand prizes: 30 brand-new bicycles.

Amina said the Easter egg hunt began as a way for the fellowship to reach out to the community once a year.

"And the whole thing just exploded."

Event organizers expect as many as 10,000 or more people to attend. The egg hunt field, or "Easter Basket," is a large, roped-off portion of the park where kids in three age groups enter several hundred at a time.

"We don't actually hide the eggs," Amina said. "We just cast them all over and allow each child to come out with three or four eggs."

Marked eggs are exchanged at the Redeemer tent for actual prizes. No matter what, every keiki gets some goodies and a gift or a toy. And there are plenty of door prizes as well.

"Somebody's going to go home with surfboards and skateboards and scooters," Amina said.

The egg hunt is in addition to live stage entertainment, food booths, keiki rides, inflatables, and the proverbial "much, much more," which includes a special Easter re-enactment.

Practically everything is free, although those who can't resist have the option of purchasing anything from a 50-cent hot dog to a $7 plate lunch at one of the food booths. There's also a nominal Keiki Ride fee to pay the concessionaires.

Otherwise, Amina said, folks don't need to bring a nickel. And it's not just the kids who walk away with their arms full. Everyone who shows up can load all the groceries, clothes, household items, toys and school supplies they can stuff in a bag at the Food Bank and Country Store tents.

"It's all free," said Sarah Lindsey, one of 200 fellowship volunteers who set things up before yesterday's kickoff event from 3 to 9 p.m. "All they have to do is register first."

After doing it for years, organizers have got the hang of the giveaways, which consist of all donated items in excellent condition. But Paula Souza, who operates the Country Store, acknowledged that the procedure required some fine-tuning.

"In the beginning, we had people come in with large garbage bags and haul off all the good stuff," Souza said. "And then later we saw them selling the stuff. So now we give them a small grocery bag and they have so many minutes to fill it up. And every family member gets to have a bag, so it's a lot of stuff they get.

"It's called the Country Store, but it's more like the old barter thing — except you don't even have to barter. You just come in and get what you want."

The same procedure applies over at the Food Bank tent, where families can bag up nonperishable food items donated by fellowship members and the Hawaii Foodbank.

But the big event today is the egg hunt, Lindsey said. It's regulated, too.

"The kids never cause any trouble," she said. "What we've learned over the years is that it's the parents who get out of hand. 'Get that egg! No, that one over there!' Ya know. So we put up a barrier for parents. Unless you've got a carrier, or you've got to walk the child, parents gotta stay back."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.