GARDINER — Avery Bernier almost slipped and fell on the snow while running to grab a plastic, chocolate-filled egg Saturday morning.

Almost — he said he saw another kid wipe all the way out, and he was proud to avoid that fate, given the slushy conditions.

Avery needed a little bit of help from his older sister, Adilyn, to find all 10 eggs he was allowed to grab, but both eventually came away with a successful haul of chocolate and toys. Adilyn had forgotten an egg-collecting bucket, so she repurposed a beige hat instead.

Ember Hall, 3 of Pittston, collects eggs from a snowy playground at the 4th annual Egg-citing Easter Extravaganza on Saturday at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kennebec Valley Sandra M. Prescott Clubhouse in Gardiner. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

The Bernier duo was just two of several dozen kids slipping and sliding on the Sandra M. Prescott Clubhouse playground in Gardiner on Saturday morning as part of the Boys & Girls Club of Kennebec Valley’s 4th annual Egg-citing Easter Extravaganza.

Nicole Cooley, the development director for the Boys & Girls Club of Kennebec Valley, said she was a little wary of the forecast, but decided the egg hunt would go on. A little snow never hurt anyone, Cooley said — especially not 3-year-old Ember Hall, who was thrilled to find a Hershey’s Kiss inside one of her orange eggs.

“I got a Kiss!” she told her grandmother, who laughed and agreed.

The two-day Extravaganza event centers around the egg hunt and an extensive Easter basket raffle set-up inside. Businesses, parents, staff and others donated almost 60 baskets for the raffle, and attendees bought tickets to have a chance at winning them.

The raffle helps fund seven or eight field trips each summer the Boys & Girls Club sends about 200 kids on, including to beaches and museums and roller skating rinks. But Cooley said costs for those trips have only gone up in recent years; buses that used to cost $500 to rent are now closer to $800, and many families need scholarships from the Boys & Girls Club to afford the trips.

Finn Smolinksy, 3, finds eggs on a window ledge. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

For the most part, the first Extravaganza event four years ago was attended by regular families at the old Boys and Girls Club clubhouse in Gardiner, like the Berniers, who had come to several egg hunts before Saturday’s.

Since then, though, Cooley said the Extravaganza has grown quickly. Now, it’s their biggest event of the year.

Dozens of families drove through the snowy weather and arrived at the clubhouse well before the hunt’s 10 a.m. start, with some deciding to take pictures with the Easter Bunny while they waited. Eli Manning — a high school junior who, like his namesake, is a good football player, Cooley said — volunteered to wear the costume this year.

“As the word got out about what we do and the activities that we have going on, and that there’s pictures with the Easter Bunny, it runs the gamut,” Cooley said. “It’s people that maybe we only see once a year that come through the door and that this is their event that they come to, to see the clubhouse and participate and help support us in this way.”

That quick growth has allowed the event to turn into more than just a summer programming fundraiser — it’s now a community gathering.

“We’ve decided to keep doing it, one, to support our school-age and teen center summer programs, for them to go off site, but it also supports community,” Cooley said. “I kind of think of, like, cabin fever reliever. This is the time of year people want to start getting out and about, and it’s a great way for folks to do that.”