Over 1,000 guests attended the second annual Easter Egg Hunt at Elmont Road Park on Saturday to celebrate the springtime holiday, searching for over 7,000 eggs filled with candies and toys in the park’s field.
Children brought their own Easter baskets to collect colorful plastic eggs, participate in spring-themed arts and crafts, get their faces painted by artist Stacy Chen, compete in an egg and spoon race, and take photos with the Easter Bunny.
An ice cream man also joined the celebration at the front of the park to serve cold treats to guests, helping them cool down in the hot 80-degree weather.
The event was coordinated by the Elmont Cultural Center, Meera Empowerment and the Dutch Broadway PTA, and sponsored by Safety Swim and Ridgewood Savings Bank.
Mimi Pierre-Johnson, the founder and CEO of the Elmont Cultural Center, said they have been planning the event since January.
She said over 1,000 people registered for the event on Eventbrite, a website where people can search for local events and RSVP to them. Pierre-Johnson said they had to keep increasing registration capacity as a result of the community’s overwhelming response.
Last year’s event, she said, was attended by about 300 guests, making this year’s event a significant increase in community participation.
It was exciting, Pierre-Johnson said, to have so many families attending the event and mingling with each other in a communal space.
“We want to bring cultures together,” Pierre-Johnson said. “We want to bring the community and families together.”
The diverse crowd at the egg hunt spoke several languages, Pierre-Johnson explained, and it excited her to hear families from all different backgrounds speaking Spanish, Creole and Idu.
The Easter egg hunt was separated into three races, which Savitre Ferdinand, president of Meera Empowerment, said was divided into age groups. Volunteers took a large box filled with thousands of eggs, dropping them in the field as children and families gathered along the perimeter sectioned off by tape.
Once Savitre gave the signal to start the hunt, the crowd flooded into the open field, grabbing as many eggs as they could to fill their baskets.
A separate Easter egg hunt for a group of 100 guests with developmental disabilities took place at the front of the park earlier in the day, offering a quieter, less crowded space for children who might otherwise get over-stimulated.
Tamar Paoli-Bailey, the Elmont Cultural Center event coordinator, said this is the first year they partnered with Meera Empowerment to organize the event.
Paoli-Bailey said she feels as though there aren’t many old-school community egg hunts anymore, or enough opportunities for the community to come together and have fun.
“I think that’s what’s missing in society,” Paoli-Bailey said. “Where you can just have fun in your own backyard.”
Selene Ferdinand, the 12-year-old CEO and founder of Meera Empowerment, said she feels events like the egg hunt are important to the community. Bringing kids out in the community, Selene said, is her favorite part of coordinating these events.
“It really brings smiles to the faces of all the kids who are here,” Selene said.
Monique Hardial, the president of the Dutch Broadway PTA, said giving back to the community is exactly what the parent-led association aims to do.
Not only does supporting events like the Easter egg hunt provide a place for the community, she said, but the PTA also hosts fundraisers, organizes assemblies and donates supplies and resources to their schools in support of residents and students.
“It’s just another way we can give back,” Hardial said of the Easter egg hunt.
Savitre said she hopes next year will be even better, and they are planning on providing some light snacks to guests to enhance the experience.
