Easter egg hunts: Gather eggs, make memories
Apr. 8—AUBURN — It would be an understatement to say that 2-year-old Savannah Mazloom loves the Easter Bunny.
On Saturday, she danced for the bunny, sang Peter Cottontail and, with her 4-year-old sister Sienna, snuggled up to the furry white rabbit for a photo at the Mark Borkey Scout Lodge.
The girls' mother, Lori Mazloom, of Pottsville, watched with a sense of contentment as her daughters made memories that will last a lifetime.
It was a scene that was repeated over and over at the 85th community Easter egg hunt sponsored by Boy Scout Troop and Cub Pack 617 of Auburn.
In near perfect spring weather, more than 200 kids ages 1 to 12 scrambled to pick up an estimated 3,000 plastic and hard-boiled eggs donated by residents of the southern Schuylkill County town.
"The joy on the childrens' faces is indescribable," said Christine Krause, vice president of the Auburn Mothers' Club, the organization that oversees the Scouts. "It's the best thing in the world."
The sentiment was the same at Easter egg hunts sponsored Saturday by Christ United Lutheran Church in Ashland and the Lions and Leo clubs in Pottsville.
More than 100 kids from birth to 12 years old showed up for the second annual Lions and Leo's egg hunt at Alumni Field in Pottsville.
They gathered more than 1,000 eggs filled with candy and prize tickets for bicycles and other gifts.
Terry Harvey, Lions secretary, said the egg hunt is in keeping with the Lions and Leo's dedication to community service.
Pottsville has the oldest Lions Club in the state, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year.
In Auburn, separate egg hunts were held for kids divided into five age-appropriate groups on the facility's soccer and adjoining fields.
When Scoutmaster Randy Neiswender shouted "go," a couple dozen kids 1 to 3 years old made short work of a rainbow of about 150 eggs scattered over a portion of the soccer field.
As 3-year-old Natalie Ludwig opened plastic eggs she gathered, her dad, Bryan, drifted back 25 or so years to when he gathered eggs on the same spot.
"It was a blast, one of my favorite memories," said Bryan, 38, an air quality specialist who grew up in Auburn. "I used to sit on the back of a pickup truck with my friends."
Nic and Maureen Purcell brought their kids — Norah, 7; Sean, 5; and Rowan, 2 — to Auburn from their home in Delaware County for the Easter egg hunt.
They're visiting the kids' grandparents, Mark and Nancy Purcell, of Auburn, who were also at the egg hunt.
"Childhood is precious, and it goes fast," said Mark Purcell, 66, who's retired. "It's a pleasure seeing them having fun and enjoying it."If the kids were having fun, so was the Easter Bunny.
After wearing a furry white suit and a cheeky headdress with large ears for more than an hour and a half, it's understandable that Kelly Free might be exhausted.
Actually, she said, it's the opposite.
"Seeing the expressions on the kids' faces," said Free, of Auburn, "makes it all worthwhile."
Contact the writer: rdevlin@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6007
