The Park District of Forest Park hosted its annual Easter egg hunt Saturday morning.
When asked how long the park district had hosted the event, Adam Cumbee, the park district’s communications and marketing manager said, “while we don’t have an actual date, ‘as long as I can remember’ seems to be the most popular answer” among staff members.
Every year, a few hundred children and their parents gather at 7501 Harrison Street for an egg hunt and to meet the Easter bunny. This year was no different as, at 10 a.m., kids up through fourth grade huddled around, then took off hurriedly to collect eggs full of candy.
The park district purchased 7,000 plastic pastel-colored eggs — a few hundred of which were used for its Flashlight Egg Hunt the night before, where locals searched for eggs in the dark — filled with chocolate candy, as well as treats donated by the Ferrara Pan Candy Company.
Before the egg hunt began, park district staff and the board of commissioners dispersed the eggs for five events Saturday, divided by age group. The three younger egg hunts were on the soccer field, while the two older ones took place on the front lawn.
“We don’t really hide the eggs as much as we spread them around,” Cumbee said. However, he added, “we do hide golden eggs with special prizes at each site and try our best to make them difficult to find.”
Most children darted from one patch of eggs to the next and, after they’d collected them all, lined up to take photos with the Easter bunny.