A more than three-decade-old tradition returned to Petrolia’s Greenwood Park on Good Friday.
The annual Petrolia Lions club Easter egg hunt attracted hundreds of children and adults for a free morning of face painting, photos with the Easter bunny, games and a scramble to collect colorful plastic eggs to exchange for prizes and candy.
Sections of the park next to the Lion’s hall were taped off according to ages for the hunt on a cool but sunny day.
One club member said the event has been held in all kinds of weather since it began in the late 1980s, but the hunt has never been rained out.
It’s all free, said co-organizer Connie Classen. The only cost was for hot dogs and bottled water the club’s Leo youth group sold for $2 as a fundraiser.
Families were encouraged to bring donations of non-perishable food to help stock the town’s food bank.
Many of the plastic eggs held a coupon for prizes, but there were bags of chocolate eggs for all participants, Classen said.
An egg scramble for toddlers was held inside the hall. “That’s adorable, watching them crawl around,” she said.
The club had to switch to a drive-thru event during the pandemic but returned to a traditional in-person egg hunt this year.
“It’s so nice,” Classen said.
The event can attract as many of 300 children, she said.
“Being a nice day, we’re kind of expecting a big crowd.”
The egg hunt is one of many events held by the 60-member service club, including an upcoming fish fry and a Lobsterfest.
“We’re always giving back to the community,” Classen said.
The egg hunt is “a fun event for the kids,” and for the organizers, she said.
“Kids are our specialty.”
It takes about 20 volunteers from the service club to hold the egg hunt, Classen said.
“It’s not hard to get volunteers for this,” she said.
“We always have fun, no matter what we do.”
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