Easter Bunny

Scholarship fundraiser at Kurtz Beach today The Pasadena Business Association will hold its annual scholarship fundraiser from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. today at Kurtz Beach, off Bayside Beach Road, Pasadena. The PBA provides scholarships to seniors at Northeast and Chesapeake high schools, and private or parochial schools in the Northeast or Chesapeake ZIP codes. The event features an Irish menu, disc jockey, wheels of chance, raffles and silent auctions. Tickets are $45 for adults and $20 for children ages 6 to 10. The PBA's Leads Group will hold a mixer from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bella Napoli, 350 Mountain Road, Pasadena.

Children can have their photos taken with the Easter Bunny at the Mall in Columbia, 10300 Little Patuxent Parkway, today through Saturday. Hours are noon to 6 p.m. today and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday. The visit and photo with the Easter Bunny are free, with no reservations required. For more information, go to themallincolumbia.com. Relay for Life will hold a yard sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 17 on the grounds of Howard's east Columbia branch library, 6600 Cradlerock Way. Vendors are welcome.

Phil Mayeski is the Easter Bunny's helper and yesterday he was a very busy man."It's bigger than Christmas," said Mr. Mayeski. "Busier than Halloween."He's talking about candy, shelves and shelves of it that dwarf him in his job filling orders and stocking inventory at the A&A Candy & Tobacco Co. on South Broadway.At Christmas, people buy gifts and make their own cookies. When the Halloween spooks creep out of the night, neighbors give away handfuls of cheap treats to keep them at bay.But Easter is a time for a better class of sweets -- chocolate eggs filled with peanut butter, caramel or butter cream; bunnies made of chocolate dark and white; and rainbows of jelly beans sprinkled in baskets sodded with plastic grass.

SHOPPING for Easter gifts? Stop by the Chesapeake High School Band Boosters' third annual craft fair between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. tomorrow in the school student center and gym.The handiwork of more than 100 artisans will be on sale.Free child care will be available while you shop.Pit beef and ham, pizza, hot dogs and nachos will also be sold. The profits will benefit the band.B6 For more details, call Steve Schaffer at 437-6419.Egg huntBring the little ones, 10 and younger, to Lake Waterford Park and hop down the bunny trail tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.The Easter bunny will place clues along the trail so that children can find the secret cache of eggs filled with candy and prizes.

Kelly Antoshak, 5, wrapped her arms around a pile of brightly colored plastic eggs on the floor and dropped them into a large wicker basket. Cora Harrison sat on a couch nearby making bows for the stuffed animals that would be awarded as prizes. And Jane Pessagno checked a small pile of eggs to be sure each contained a piece of chocolate candy. The group delighted in the task but had little time to admire - much less sample - their handiwork. There were thousands of plastic eggs to be filled and dozens of prizes to be prepared for the Easter Egg Hunt at Rockfield Manor in Bel Air. In its fifth year, the event has grown from a couple of hundred children to as many as 1,000, organizers say. They aren't the only ones hard at work preparing for this annual rite of spring.

Spying a cluster of pink eggs under a bush, 5-year-old Heather Haynes stealthily slipped into the best position to seize them the moment the hunt began.The green lawn outside Resurrection Lutheran Church in Brooklyn Park was littered with plastic, multicolored eggs. Yellow eggs bobbed from branches in evergreens, purple eggs poked out among the crocuses and lime green eggs nestled under shrubs.But Heather alone took care of dozens of them. "Look at all of these," she cried, snatching up the plastic eggs containing candy and prizes.

Things will be hopping all weekend long in celebration of Easter. Kid-friendly, fun and interactive holiday events are cropping up all over the area. Here are just a few of the family-oriented Easter happenings: An "Inner Harbor Easter Celebration" takes place from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Harborplace Amphitheatre, between the Pratt and Light Street Pavilions. The event features free entertainment and fun for all ages. Families may enjoy "Amazing Feats of Comedy With Mike Rosman" from noon to 3:30 p.m. Rosman's physical-comedy show includes him balancing on top of a bowling ball, on a board and atop a table, as well as performing challenging juggling tricks.

What glorious occasions Easter and Passover are. The holidays are the harbingers of springtime. We know that when it's time for Easter and Passover, tulips will soon be pushing up through the ground.Spring! Thank goodness, you're finally, finally here.OK. Mother Nature has been known to pull a fast one or two. April snowstorms are not unheard of, and it's been a bit chilly recently. But this is a time of year when optimism reigns supreme. So, weather permitting, shed those heavy overcoats and wool scarves.

A GROUP of hard-working teen-agers at Northeast High School has been preoccupied over the past three months, honing disco moves, learning dialogue and preparing for the Dionysus Club's spring production of Friday Knight Fever, a musical comedy tribute to the 1970s. The musical joyfully parodies a time when mood rings and Magic Eight Balls revealed the wisdom of the world, Women's Lib empowered a new generation and disco music reigned. "Disco is not dead at Northeast," said Martin Le- Francois, teacher and club sponsor.

The Rev. Jude Winkler decided to cut the Easter liturgy short at a few minutes before 8 a.m. yesterday.The 500 early risers before him were among 8,000 who attended one of the 10 Easter Masses planned by the St. Louis Catholic Church in Clarksville. He would skip the meditation segment, he told the crowd, because the next group of parishioners was "already breaking the door down."So it went yesterday as the 141-year-old parish juggled its complicated Easter schedule to accommodate its congregation of 3,200 families.