Gray skies, bright bounty at Easter egg hunts

The weather was gray and gloomy on Saturday, April 13, when several towns hosted their annual Easter egg hunts. None of the children seemed to care. They weren’t looking up at the sky, their eyes were locked on the ground and the colorful plastic eggs scattered across the lawns of the Scoville Memorial Library in Salisbury, Lawrence Field in North Canaan and the lawns in front of and behind Town Hall in Kent (children under 5 were in front of the municipal building, children 6 and older were in back).

There were tall, furry white rabbits at North Canaan and Kent, available for photo ops with any children who weren’t too scared (or excited) to pose. In Salisbury, there was a sing-along with Danny Tieger before the hunt  (Tieger is a music and drama teacher at Indian Mountain School in Lakeville).

At many egg hunts in the area, it seems no matter how eggs are laid out, the children scoop them up in minutes. Even those with overflowing baskets continue to scour the grounds for that one last overlooked egg. 

In North Canaan, each child could trade in his or her bounty for a gift bag. Perhaps that was why the hunters there took a slower, more laid-back approach to looking for the eggs, especially the older children, who seemed to feel they had all the time in the world. 

While Kent and North Canaan had separate egg hunts for different age groups, Salisbury had one for all ages — so parents joined in the hunt to help the toddlers. The adults were very much a part of the Salisbury hunt, searching around as the older, more independent children dashed by them.

Eggs were scattered from the back of the library, down toward Wachocastinook Creek and looped toward the front entrance, giving children lots of room to race for the eggs and lots of interesting nooks and crannies in which to search.

Although it was gray, it was fairly warm. Many of the egg hunters wore bright outfits, including children dressed in rabbit ears and decorated Easter bonnets. 

The post-hunt was as important as the hunt. Children camped out in little groups of three or so, trading and inspecting the contents of the plastic eggs they found.