Hundreds of kids collect thousands of eggs on April Fool’s Day

by Dan McClelland

Several hundred children, most accompanied by a parent or two, mobbed the fields around the L.P. Quinn Elementary School on April Fool’s Day this year. But it wasn’t a joke. There were nearly 6,000 goodie-filled eggs to gather.

It was another successful and popular version of Erin’s Easter Egg Hunt, which honors the late Erin Farkas Dewyea, who helped create it as a Kiwanis Club event staple over a decade ago.

Although there was light rain in the morning, by noon the sun came out and the mercury began to rise into the 30s, for the enjoyment of the egg hunters and their chaperones.

The hunt was again co-sponsored by the Adirondack Regional Federal Credit Union.

Joining the two local sponsors were a number of community members. A number of businesses donated goodies to be collected inside all those many colorful eggs that day at noon. From The Castle of Toys, which the local civic club also operates at Christmas each year and runs from its home above the VFW Post came a number of the small toys that went into some of the eggs. Small gifts also came this year from McDonald’s on the Boulevard.

A horn set the searchers in motion in three places.

This was believed to be the first Erin’s Easter Egg Hunt on a blanket of snow since the first two around 2013. But it made for easy spotting by the youngsters. Typically the early Easter event is graced with unseasonable nice April weather.

It’s a rain and shine event, but normally the hunts have attracted good weather.

This year, however, the snow was still six inches deep on the Rotary Field and the track that rings it, where parents typically observe the young gatherers. Because of that, the gathering sites surrounded the school this year, where snow cover was thinner. Three different age groups- those in first and second grades, kindergarten to pre-K and pre-K and younger hunted in three difference places: near the bus lanes, on the school playground and on the upper soccer fields.

There were six golden eggs- two on each field- to be found, which entitled the holders to a bundle of Easter loot: an Easter basket with toys, a back pack, legos, board games and more.

Denver Proulx won one, but we don’t know the winners of the rest.

Juli Dukett, one of the key Kiwanis Club organizers, was pleased with this year’s version of the event that honors her friend and fellow club member, Erin.

She again handled the opening announcements, briefing anxious egg-searchers on the respective sites and the rules.