Easter egg hunters pounce while the sun shines
WINFIELD TWP — Winfield Community Park turned into an Easter wonderland Saturday, April 1. There were food trucks, a petting zoo, a foam party, pictures with the Easter Bunny and the main event, an Easter egg hunt where more than 20,000 plastic eggs filled with candy, toys, lucky tickets and more were snatched up in minutes.
The township community building was filled with face painters, balloon artists, tinsel clip artisans, craft vendors and baklava being sold by Greek Orthodox nuns.
The entire event, which ran from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., took place under a blue sky and sun and ended as the clouds turned gray and rain began to splatter on attendees.
It was the third year for the Easter egg hunt put on by Terri Leslie, Jerry Bundy and a group of volunteers.
Leslie said the egg hunt began out of necessity two years ago year when the Saxonburg Area Business Association canceled its annual Easter egg hunt.
Leslie said Saturday’s event was running smoothly for the most part.
“One food truck canceled because of the wind. They couldn’t keep the pizza ovens on,” she said.
“We had 20 volunteers, and the Boy Scouts came and helped,” she said.
Bundy said, “Everything’s going perfect. The weather has blessed us with a beautiful day. It’s ending now, and here comes the storm.”
Leslie said it was a true community effort. Residents at Concordia Lutheran Ministries at Cabot and Magnolia Place in Saxonburg pitched in to help fill the plastic eggs.
Egg hunters were divided into four age groups: ages 0 to 2, 3 to 5, 6 to 8, and 9 to 12 for the hunt.
Bundy said the youngest group gathered 5,200 eggs in nine minutes; the next group took four minutes to clear out the field, and the 6 to 8 group took three minutes to gather the plastic eggs.
In addition to candy and other treats, some eggs contained a ticket with a sticker which won the finder one of 90 baskets filled with more treats. There also was an adult drawing for four baskets and gift cards to give away.
In the community building, nuns from the Nativity of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Monastery, 121 St. Elias Lane, Saxonburg, were selling baklava to raise money for a new building.
Joyce Hutterer was taking a break from being a partner and senior-listing specialist of the Hutterer & Stahl Team of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices to don an Easter Bunny costume for pictures with children.
“I’ve been doing this for 10 years. I bought the costume from the Costume Shop on Route 8,” she said. “The children are incredibly good. They aren’t scared. Some of them come running up.”
Mark Gibson, of Foam Party Pittsburgh.com of Kittanning, was manning two cannons allowing children to dance through billowing white clouds of foam.
“This is the earliest day in the season I’ve ever done a foam party and the windiest day of the season,” he said. He usually breaks out his equipment for churches, church camps, high schools and private parties.
He said the cannons use 200 gallons of water and concentrated hand soap to create the foam clouds.
Tara Ray, of Penn Township, watched as her two daughters, Caralina, 8, and Waylynn, 4, counted up their goodies in the parking lot after the egg hunt.
“They had a lot of fun. They got their faces painted, and they got their picture with the Easter Bunny,” Ray said.
Caralina said, “I got a bunch of candy, a toy dog and a Slinky.”
“I feel they did a really good job putting this together, and it was free. It was really nice,” her mother said.
Ashley Paris, of Lyndora, who brought her three children, twins Archer and Beck, 7, and Silas, 9, echoed those sentiments.
“It as really amazing. The weather was nice,” Paris said.
Watching his daughter, Hannah, 12, scoop up eggs, Shane Hinderliter, of Sarver, said, “It’s like an amusement park. You wait in line, and it’s all over in two minutes.”
Hannah wasn’t complaining, though. She bagged 27 eggs and couldn’t wait to sort through them.
Tandi Spencer, of Sarver, was eating ice cream bars with her son, Paxton, when his egg hunt was over. She was surprised at the size of the crowd.
“It’s a little-known park. I wasn’t sure that many people would come,” she said.
A pickup truck was holding donations of nonperishable food that will be given to a food bank. Leslie said this reflected the spirit of the event: volunteers donating time and businesses and organizations donating materials to make the egg hunt a success.
“They have to pay for food and the Easter flowers, but everything is donated. We don’t charge. It’s like paying it forward. They donate, and we give it back to the community,” Leslie said.
