Hundreds hunt for Easter eggs

About 500 children turned out for the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department's Capaha Park egg hunt Saturday morning.

Altogether there were about 2,900 eggs, with candy, coupons or special prize tickets for Easter baskets and toys inside, said Jared Tanz, parks and recreation coordinator.

It takes about eight parks and recreation staff members to keep the event orderly and hide the eggs used for the three hunts, grouped by age.

"Some of them I tied up in the branches of the willow trees," said employee Josh Hoehn. In one area he grouped about 15 eggs together so some child would hit the jackpot.

But children who didn't hit any jackpots still had some consolation.

"We keep about 200 back for kids who may not have been able to find many," Tanz said.

He instructed hunters to check their eggs for special prizes to be claimed at the table, limit their take to six or eight eggs and to hunt all around the lake.

When the older, more experienced children were let loose, the hunt became almost a jog around the lake. With starts and stops the lap took about seven minutes.

For some it was still a fairly new experience. Bridgit Strom, 3, attended the hunt during a visit to Cape Girardeau to see her grandmother, Nellie Strom.

Compared to candy, coupons just didn't have the same appeal for Bridgit.

"Oh, a big pink egg!" she said gleefully on the discovery of a foil-wrapped chocolate egg.

Nellie Strom said the egg hunt was one of the many activities she took her own children to while growing up in Cape Girardeau.

Jurnee and Savannah Brown, 6 months and 18 months respectively, came from Ware, Ill., dressed in their Easter finery to take part in a big hunt.

"A lot of the hunts don't have the 1- to 2-year-old age group," said their father, Nick Brown.

A young Cape Girardeau family multitasked while egg hunting. Darren Harris, a trainer at Saint Francis Medical Center's Fitness Plus, rode his bicycle hooked up to a baby trailer carrying daughter Ashlynn while walking the dog.

"He's been training for the Steamboat Classic and he likes the added weight of the trailer," said his wife, Becky.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133