Easter egg hunt uncovers candy, new friends

By Marlon Picken
Monday, April 12, 2004 - 07:00

Local News - The Calvin Park Easter egg hunt has become a tradition not to be missed. Just ask the hundreds of people who showed up.

More than 100 children hunted for 1,500 brightly coloured eggs on Saturday. They were joined by the Easter bunny and about 150 parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who were on hand to help children find the chocolate and confectionary-filled plastic egg containers.

“It’s my favourite part of Easter,” said Steve Cooke, 10, whose taken part in the hunt for the last four years.

“It’s a chance to meet all kinds of new people,” said his mother, Joanna Cooke.

Susan Reynolds started the tradition seven years ago with an egg hunt for children who lived on Herchmer Crescent.

“I cooked it up with my friend one day,” she said. “We thought it sounded good.”

The first hunt was so successful that Reynolds expanded it the following year. It has grown every year since, and this weekend, it covered the entire Calvin Park area.

Reynolds remembers when the hunt was limited to Herchmer Crescent. “The street had a high population of kids per house. It worked well.

“People from neighbouring streets who had children, but not enough on their street to run their own hunt, were invited to ours.”

This year, the event was organized by 11 volunteers. Reynolds and a friend go to the Bulk Barn, where they have a special Easter egg hunt discount, to buy the candy for the eggs. This year, they bought about 40 kilograms’ worth. “The kids end up with a big pile of candy,” she said.

It takes about two hours for the volunteers to stuff the plastic eggs with the various goodies, which are then hidden throughout the street. “I save my candy in a container,” Steve Cooke said, “and I eat it as I go.”

“Self-imposed rationing,” his mother said. “He’s learned from when he’s overdone it on junk food before.”

Children are allowed to gather as many as 12 eggs each. Reynolds’ group, which plans for extra kids to show up, lets older children gather up any eggs not collected at the end.

She has two children of her own – Michael, who is 11, and Taylor, 10. Reynolds said that the hunt not only gives children a chance to have fun, but gives parents of similarly aged children a chance to meet.

“There was a family that moved in whose children went to a school out of district. I invited the mother and family out for Saturday and she ended up meeting other parents who lived close by that had kids the same ages as hers.”

A chance to meet new people works as well for the adults as the different goodies work for the kids. This was also the first year that Reynolds needed to accommodate a child with a peanut allergy. However, Steve, who admits to being a lover of caramel-filled chocolates hidden inside turquoise-coloured eggs, said that the sweet surprise of the hunt is not the only reward for participating.

“I love meeting people and going out and searching,” he said. Both Steve and Reynolds think that an Easter egg hunt is a great event. “I usually don’t get to see people until the summer, or now at Easter,” Steve said.

“Everyone’s been inside the whole winter,” Reynolds said. “It’s nice to come out and to socialize. This area originally had a strong sense of community,” she said. “It’s nice to have something like that again.”