ARLINGTON — The second annual Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt drew hundreds of attendees to the Haller Middle School field, where kids and adults of all ages hunted down Easter eggs in the dark, to help raise more than $2,000 for Relay for Life.

The $5 entrance fee was a small price to pay for those who wanted to have fun and help out a good cause, and possibly win one of the $500 worth of prizes and treats hidden within the hundreds of plastic eggs littering the field. The grand total raised was $2,480.

“We are so excited. It’s $1,000 more than last year,” said Heidi Clark, who organized the hunt. “I think it’s really cool that our community came out in support of this and covered our costs so that all the money could go straight to the American Cancer Society.”

Kids as young as a few months old crowded around the 5 and under egg hunt, a new addition to the event.

“I am excited,” said Roslyn Radford, 5, who was participating in the hunt for the first time. “I hope I get candy and glow in the dark rings. I want to get 16 eggs!”

Roslyn’s mother, Tracy Radford, is the executive director of the local chapter of the American Cancer Society, and was happy to see the community involved in a festive event that helps raise awareness.

“It is so cool to see the town come out and raise awareness in a fun way,” she said. “[Roslyn] loves Relay. We are always going to one event or another.”

The Easter egg hunt served to wrap up the fourth annual “Paint the Town Purple” Day, a community event celebrating Relay for Life and ACS, which included a festival downtown and a light parade through Olympic Avenue.

Peach Hunter, 3, searched for eggs at the hunt for the first time this year, and was excited to get “chocolate things,” while her grandmother, Tam Conrad, approved of the ultimate purpose of the event.

“I am involved with Relay. I have a team every year and every year my team tries to raise a little more money,” said Conrad, who described how she first became aware of Relay for Life when her daughter encouraged her to join the team in Stanwood. “I went to an Arlington basketball game and they were there doing sign-ups. They asked everyone in the crowd to stand up if someone in their life had been affected by cancer — and almost everyone was standing. There is quite a bit of cancer in my own family, and I think this is a cause that everybody needs to know as much about as they can, because it’s so widespread.”

Conrad was also impressed with the egg hunt itself.

“I think it’s great. It’s a fabulous idea,” she said. “It’s hard to come up with new and innovative ideas for raising money, and this looks like it’s going to be a great money-maker and a fun activity.”

To register or learn more, log onto http://relayforlife.org/arlingtonwa.