Key sees a hopping Easter weekend

Easter weekend is a notoriously busy one on Siesta Key. Right on the heels of spring break, guests flood the island to spend the holiday weekend with family, and it’s typically one of the last busy weekends of the season.

Easter came two weeks earlier than it did last year, and as a result, businesses didn’t experience the lull that often falls between the end of spring break season and Easter.

Kay Kouvatsos, co-owner of local hotspot Village Café, says the holiday weekend is always great for business, and that this year was no exception.

“The whole weekend was great,” she said. “We had a lot of large families coming in. We had a steady wave that kept coming all day long.”

Although the constant influx of people on the Key can become a little exhausting, Kouvatsos isn’t complaining.

“Last year, things calmed down for about two weeks after spring break,” she said. “We didn’t have that this year. We have Siesta Fiesta coming up this weekend, so we’re going to keep being busy.”

Ryan Copenhaver, assistant manager at the Village souvenir shop, Siesta Tees, says Easter weekend is always busy at the store, especially in recent years.

“The No. 1 beach thing has definitely added to the madness,” said Copenhaver.

Families celebrating the holiday weekend on the Key had no shortage of Easter church services or Easter egg hunts.

The Siesta Key Village Association hosted its 12th annual Easter egg hunt, in which approximately 130 children explored Siesta Key Beach in search of hidden eggs, took photos with the Easter bunny and took tours of a fire truck.

SKVA President Russell Matthes says the popular event almost always sells out.

Churches on the Key also saw large turnouts for their various services offered throughout the weekend.

“We had a wonderful turnout,” said Betsie Danner, stewardship director at St. Boniface Episcopal Church. “We had a lot of our regular members come as well as some new faces. I would say it was almost double what we would have on a normal Sunday.”

The hustle and bustle on the Key will continue through this weekend’s always popular Siesta Fiesta, before the high season comes to an end.