LOCKHART — The agenda was light for the Lockhart Town Council this month.

But the excitement was apparent.

The town is gearing up for its first-ever Easter Parade and Festival set for the Saturday prior to the holiday, April 3.

Grand Marshal and reason for the event Miss Society Hill Destiny Knox and her grandmother, Lora Fielder of Lockhart, were present at Monday’s meeting to give council members an update on how plans were coming.

“We hope to have a great time,” Fielder said.

The festival includes, of course, the parade which begins at 10 a.m. and will follow a course from the Lockhart School and downtown. The street festival begins thereafter and will include arts and crafts and food vendors. Musical entertainment will be provided throughout the festival — which ends at 5 p.m. — and commemorative T-shirts also will be sold.

An Easter egg hunt — featuring more than 3,000 hidden eggs — will be held for children followed by a presentation telling the story of the Resurrection and a basketball shoot-out and corn-hole tournament also are planned.

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Town of Lockhart and the event also will serve as a way to honor the memory of fallen South Carolina highway patrolman Cpl. Jon Nash. Knox and his daughter also will plant a tree in his memory.

The parade began as part of Knox’s platform — focusing on schools and education — for her competing in the Miss South Carolina Pageant. If she wins in that competition, she will move on to the Miss Teen America Pageant.

It quickly has become a premier Easter event and organizers are telling everyone and anyone who wants to attend or be a part to do so. Parade entries are continuing to be accepted and floats will be part of a contest with the winners getting cash prizes.

There also will be an Easter dress contest, “Old Timey” Easter hat contest and games.

“What we’re really trying to do here is reach out and touch our county,” Fielder said.

She, Knox and other event organizers have taken fliers and information to many places in Union County and its surrounding areas. They hope to get as many people to attend the event and participate as possible.

“Anyone we run into we’ll tell them about it,” Fielder said.

If the event does well, it could become an annual event.

The ultimate goal, however, is for everyone involved to have a good time.

“We just want it to be a wonderful day,” Fielder said.

In other business Monday, council members:

• Heard a letter from Lockhart Mayor Ailene Ashe who was not present at the meeting in regard to the possibility of beginning quarterly town meetings for residents who need to voice their opinions on whatever issue can do so and for council members to show their community how its local government works. She hopes the first meeting can be scheduled for sometime in April and said in her letter she wants these meetings to be an opportunity for the community to band together and move the town forward into the future.

• Heard a brief update on Census 2010 filing and its importance.

• Heard a report from council member Tammy Stamey on the progress of town clean up efforts through Palmetto Pride’s Great American Clean Up of South Carolina. Stamey said she was waiting for Ashe to return to set a date for the event and the town has until May 1 to send in the paperwork to participate in the Palmetto Pride event.