Local kids hunt for Easter eggs

EASTERN SUBURBS – Multiple villages in the eastern suburbs held Easter egg hunts this past Saturday.
At all three free events, kids separated by age group were given the chance to forage around for brightly colored eggs. By the end of the morning, they were all leaving with the candy contained in the eggs they found or the bags of sweets exchanged for the eggs they hunted down.
The first Easter egg hunt of the day in the local area was hosted at 9 a.m. at the Fayetteville Senior Center at 584 E. Genesee St. There were cups of coffee and doughnut holes for those who arrived early, and group by group, the children picked up every last egg placed on the grass by the parking lot.
“I always tell people that the Easter egg hunt may seem kind of hokey, but the kids absolutely love it and that’s what it’s about,” Fayetteville Trustee Mark Matt said. “It builds really good memories for them.”
Though some were nervous to approach the Easter Bunny, who stopped by for the festivities, other kids were more than excited to visit with their favorite rabbit.
Due to rain, last year’s egg hunt in Fayetteville took place in the senior center’s enclosed, roofed porch dedicated not long beforehand in honor of Henry and Donna McIntosh.
Matt said this year’s, however, fell on a “wonderful day” with slightly chilly temperatures but no wind, rain or even a cloud in the sky, remarking that it truly felt like spring had sprung.
“We really feel fortunate to have the good weather today so everyone could be out here,” he said. “We have much better attendance because people feel good about getting out in the sun.”
At 10 a.m., another Easter egg hunt was held at Ellis Field Park on McCool Avenue in the village of East Syracuse.
Keith Caiello, the assistant director of East Syracuse’s parks and recreation department, seconded the notion that the weather was a factor in the day’s turnout of kids for the local events, adding that his village brought in about 175 kids judging by the number of candy baggies and chocolate bunnies given out.
“It’s just such a beautiful day,” Caiello said during his village’s event on April 8. He said families made sure to swing by the playground and snap pictures with the Easter Bunny while they were at the park too.
Joe Axenfeld, a member of the East Syracuse Recreation Committee, said he thinks the egg hunt is one of the best all-around events for the local community, though he said that last year it was crowded underneath Cunningham Pavilion in the park and less festive because of the inclement weather.
Minoa Trustee Bobby Schepp said it could have been a bit warmer for his village’s egg hunt, which was spread out over the playground of Lewis Park on South Main Street, but he said he would gladly take it over the “controlled chaos” that resulted from being huddled inside the pole barn for last year’s event. This time, attendees lined the perimeter of the playground waiting for Minoa Mayor Bill Brazill to shout the go-ahead.
“It was such a small area last year, so there was no room,” Schepp said. “As soon as the mayor said ‘go’ in the pole barn, you had kids running all sorts of directions and there was no escaping it.”
Schepp thanked the members of the Minoa Fire Department for helping to set up the village’s event that started at 10:30 a.m.
“It’s a great event to put on for the kids,” he said. “It’s events like this that make the village special.”
Aside from the assorted candy in the eggs, there were first, second and third-place prize baskets awarded along with chips for Parkway Pizza and Trappers II Pizza & Pub.