Hundreds of Michiana residents headed out to Nappanee to celebrate Easter Sunday at Amish Acres.

“This ranks right up there with Mother’s Day and Thanksgiving and all the rest of the holidays,” Amish Acres Founder and CEO Richard Pletcher said. “What’s special to us about [Easter] is it’s the first holiday of the year for us.”

Amish Acres only opened for the season last week, but Easter Sunday brought out hundreds of families to celebrate at the restaurant.

“We came for the Easter egg hunt and to have lunch,” Jason Smith said, alongside his family.

A brunch buffet featuring Amish Acres’ traditional and popular delicacies was offered.

“It includes all of the ingredients of our normal thresher’s dinner that we’ve been serving here for half a century now,” Pletcher said.

And a giant Easter egg hunt took place at 1 o’clock, leaving kids scrambling for some of the 1,500 eggs the staff put out.

As the Easter bunny made some new friends throughout the afternoon, the dining room was packed as an endless line of people waited to dig in.

“The food’s delicious here,” Smith said.

And though the crowds meant a bit of a wait, a sunny Easter afternoon kept everyone pretty happy.

“There’s no rain, it’s glorious!” Cheryl Killian said.

Pletcher said such nice weather is rare, but welcome, when Easter happens this early in the year.

“I remember Easters at this time [of the year] when the snow was flying sideways,” Pletcher said.

Dozens of cars filled the parking lot Sunday afternoon, proving the rural restaurant is a popular destination for Michiana families.

“We hope it’s because we provide such a family atmosphere and celebratory atmosphere for all of our holiday events,” Pletcher said.

According to Pletcher, between 1,000 and 1,500 people were expected to come through the restaurant on Easter Sunday.