St. Charles Park District prepares for annual egg hunt fun
Work for the community-wide Easter Egg Hunt in St. Charles’ Pottawatomie Park begins just after the confetti from the New Year Celebration is swept off the floor.
Recreation Supervisor Lara Piner relies on volunteers, from local scouts to businesses, to help fill the more than 12,000 eggs that will be hidden for the St. Charles Park District’s Community Egg Hunt.
“It takes a lot of volunteers,” she said, explaining how in the snow-covered early weeks of January she was organizing volunteers to help fill the colorful plastic eggs that will be hidden for thousands of seekers when they descend on the park Saturday, March 23.
“We’ll hide between 12,000 and 15,000 eggs,” she added. “We have to start months before to make sure we’re ready.”
The hunt is free to the public, with children ages 9 and younger divided into different age categories and locations to help make sure everyone can find plenty of treats in Pottawatomie Park, located near downtown St. Charles and along the Fox River.
Each season the staff at St. Charles Park District bring festive and fun events to celebrate the spring holiday. There is the Flashlight Egg Hunt & Hike at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center where participants follow the trails outside of the Discovery Center to learn about egg laying animals and collect filled eggs at different stations. At the end of the trail, participants will participate in an egg hunt. The event is for all ages and the registration cost is $12 per child. Register for a time slot for the Flashlight Egg Hunt, between 6-7:45 p.m.
Last year the team at Norris Recreation Center launched a new egg hunt for children in the center’s competitive pool. The Underwater Egg Hunt returns Saturday, March 16 with children ages 3 to 12 invited to swim and gather plastic eggs in the shallow end of the pool. The park district team organized the new event last year and it was very well-received, said Ande Masoncup, assistant superintendent of recreation at the Norris Recreation Center.
Parents can assist children ages 3 and 4 in the pool, while children ages 5 and older should be comfortable swimming independently to participate in the hunt, Masoncup said.
Approximately 500 plastic eggs will float in the pool as children, divided by age groups, take their turns paddling to collect eggs. After the hunt, families can stay to enjoy the Open Swim time and the Easter Bunny will be available for photos.
For those who prefer more time with the bunny, there’s the traditional Breakfast with the Easter Bunny on Wednesday, March 27 at Pottawatomie Community Center featuring time for each family to snap photos with the Easter Bunny while enjoying a delicious pancake breakfast. The cost is $18 per person and advance registration is required.
And there’s even an egg hunt to enjoy with your favorite pup. The annual Doggie Egg Hunt returns to the dog park at River Bend Community Park. Dogs can put their noses to use sniffing out the plastic eggs that have treats and tickets for prizes hidden inside.
For the dog hunt, the pups are divided by size into the two play areas to search out the plastic eggs. Dogs must be on a 6-foot, non-retractable leash and advance registration is required, with a cost of $5 per dog. Piner added there are raffle prizes too. The Easter Bunny will be available so people and their pups can pose for a few pictures to cap the special occasion.