Good Friday at the Sarasota Fairgrounds draws thousands

By Ian Swaby
| 11:05 a.m. April 5, 2026

Sarasota
Neighbors

This year, the venue was the Sarasota Fairgrounds instead of Payne Park.

Nonetheless, the annual Good Friday event by First Sarasota Church continued a trend of drawing thousands of attendees.

To match the turnout, Good Friday at the Sarasota Fairgrounds also featured about 50,000 Easter eggs across the various egg hunts for different ages, with some of them dropped from a helicopter.

"Even adults were impressed with the helicopter egg hunt," said attendee Victoria Kafando. "It's amazing."

The event also included inflatables, a rock climbing wall and face painting, with activities breaking for a Good Friday Worship Service.

"At our church, we want to reach everyone, but we especially want to communicate to the next generation, so that's why we do things like this," said Pastor John Cross. "We have thousands of kids and parents together to have fun and also to hear about God's love."

Ollha Naumets sings during a worship concert.

Milena Jones and Danny Jones, 1, hunt for eggs together.

Gabriel Kafando, 6, meets the Easter Bunny.

Ava Glauser, 4 Emery Glauser, 1, Vallen Glauser, 6, enjoy time at the fairgrounds.

Volunteer Isaac Chavez-Santiago helps prepare an egg hunt.

Toni Colorado, her sister Claudia Guardino, and her son Dante Colorado, 5, enjoy a picnic.

Eggs are distributed in the field as the crowd awaits an egg hunt.

Pastor John Cross (center) speaks to attendees during the Good Friday Worship Service.

Zaden Daniels, 5, sorts through some eggs.

Matthew Tafolla, 7, and Brandon Byrd, 8, play with a string attached to a large balloon on display.

Marian Gil, 11, and Italia Dentici, 9, run with some bags of Chick-fil-A.

Brady Byrd, 4, plays with a large balloon on display.

author

Ian Swaby

Ian Swaby is the Sarasota neighbors writer for the Observer. Ian is a Florida State University graduate of Editing, Writing, and Media and previously worked in the publishing industry in the Cayman Islands.