Crowds flock to amended Easter-egg hunt

Friday’s annual Easter egg hunt at Frank Charry Park had to be modified because of icy conditions, but no one left without at least a little chocolate to tide them over until Sunday morning.

Organizers of the popular event, which drew more than 1,000 people to the east end neighbourhood, said they had to cancel the hunt, but still handed out more than 16,000 colourful plastic eggs and 150 pounds of chocolate.

That suited 15-year-old Abigail Hagberg just fine.

“It’s cold out, but it’s still lots of fun because you can come with your brothers and sisters and come and get chocolate, which is nice.”

The hunt is always fun, but not totally necessary to make an enjoyable morning, said Abigail’s friend Bailey Stevens.

“It was still nice,” she said.

“And we still got chocolate,” Abigail added.

Seven-year-old Jacob Paternoster loved seeing the Easter Bunny in person.

He figures he collected about five eggs.

“I like Easter,” he said, when asked why he wanted to come to the hunt.

“Two years ago I won a bike.”

His mother, Marykay Paternoster said the kids love it.

“He’s been coming since he was three years old and it’s exciting when they’re young and they run on the field. As they grow older it’s fun to watch them run and get excited for the Easter eggs.

It was a little disappointing the eggs were just handed out this year, she said, but still a great event.

“They can’t control that and I absolutely understand why they had to do it. It makes sense,” said Paternoster, who plans to spend time with family, eat plenty of food and wait for the Easter Bunny for the remainder of the holiday weekend.

Adam Schooler, a vice-president with the Hill City Kinsmen, who put on the Easter egg hunt, said they’ve been keeping an eye on conditions all week long.

“The snow is coming and going and melting and we really had to think about the ice conditions on the rink and on the ball field. In the end we didn’t want to take a chance that even one little one getting hurt, so we had to change up how we got the eggs to the kids today,” Schooler said.

“Obviously safety is first and the most important. Secondly it’s that the kids are getting the eggs and the chocolate and everybody is experiencing the fun of Easter. And there’s a whole van-load of prizes.”

It’s the 22nd annual Easter egg hunt and Schooler said there’s no reason why it can’t continue for years to come.

“This is why we do it,” he said, turning to point to the crowd.

“There are thousands of kids that come out and their families. They’ve been coming here for years and they all come and everybody has a great time. It’s the community coming together.”