I still believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and true love ...

Date: 3/28/2024
Tags: Community, Family
On Saturday, March 23, I had an opportunity to participate in the Darien Park District’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt. As a member of the Darien Lions Club, I was invited to Westwood Park in order to place over 7,000 plastic Easter Eggs throughout the park for children ranging anywhere from toddlers to older pre-teens. Each of these eggs had a small toy inside, with 12 holding a special golden ticket that entitles the lucky child to a special Easter gift.

The Park District Easter Egg Hunt takes place yearly at the Darien Community Park along with Westwood Park. Each year that this event has been held, it seems as if the number of Easter Eggs has increased, and the 7,000 we put out this year appears to be the largest amount distributed in all the years that I have participated in the event. It takes us probably forty-five minutes to lay out these 7,000 eggs throughout the park, and when we reach 9:00 am and the horn blows, it takes several hundred children anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes to pick up each of those eggs. While I don’t know how long it took at the other park, it was almost as if a “vacuum cleaner” went over that field and gobbled up each of those eggs.

Each year, those of us working the event enjoy watching children of all ages, who with smiles on their faces and a belief in the Easter Bunny, all participate eagerly in this event. While for many of us, Easter is a deeply religious celebration, it was a beautiful thing to watch, as children ran through a field, smiles on their faces, Easter baskets in hand, collecting Easter Eggs and meeting with the Easter Bunny. For those of us in the Lions Club who participate in this event, it is but a brief reminder to each of us, of memories past, of the innocence we exhibited, when we, as children, celebrated Easter, searching for Easter eggs and enjoying all the goodies that mom and dad supplied in our Easter baskets.

May we always remember the true meaning of Easter, without forgetting the joy we felt as children when we took our first bite of our Easter chocolate surrounded by our moms and dads. Happy and Blessed Easter to all of you!