Pez apologizes for Easter egg hunt 'chaos'
The Pez candy company has apologized for an Easter egg hunt that descended into chaos at its factory over the weekend when overzealous parents ignored the start time and rushed the field.
"We would like to sincerely apologize to each of our guests," Pez said in a statement following Saturday's event. "This was not something created to frustrate or make people angry. We only wanted to do good for the local community."
According to the company, the Easter egg hunt drew hundreds of people to the fields outside its Orange, Conn., facility.
Organizers said they placed more than 9,000 eggs on three separate fields for the children and intended on having staggered start times for different age groups.
"Unfortunately people chose to enter the first field prior to anyone from Pez staff starting the activity," the statement said. "The crowd moved to the 2nd field, waited for only a couple of minutes and proceeded to rush the field without being directed to do so and before the posted start time. The crowd then immediately moved to the 3rd field and took over and removed everything well before the activity was to even start."
"[They] rushed the field and took everything," Pez general manager Shawn Peterson told WFSB-TV, "kind of like locusts."
Peterson and other Pez staffers tried to "talk with as many people as we possibly could, letting them know if someone didn’t get an egg or candy, we had plenty of candy at the front entry for them. We sincerely tried our best to create a fun, free activity for everyone to enjoy."
Few, it seemed, did.
"By the time I found my 4-year-old, he was hysterically crying," Nicole Welch told NBC Connecticut.
"Somebody pushed me over," Vincent Welch said. "They broke my bucket."
No injuries were reported in the melee, but the mess quickly became national news.
"Easter Egg Chaos," Fox News declared.
"We made efforts to get everyone something before they left and passed out tons of candy and coupons at the front entry and tried to make the best of an unfortunate situation," Pez added. "Due to the actions of a few, the good intent quickly turned into a mess."
Pez wasn't the only company to experience a candy crush on Easter weekend.
Vermont State Police used pepper spray to subdue a man who witnesses say became irate over long lines at an Easter egg hunt at Wilson Castle in the town of Proctor early Saturday afternoon.
A volunteer at the event told WCAX-TV that there was "a lot of commotion, a lot of cursing and swearing." And when police arrived, the man "got belligerent with a cop, cop said, 'Okay you're under arrest,' and the guy got even more belligerent, took off running and the cop chased him."
As was the case at the Pez factory, organizers in Proctor say they did not anticipate such a large crowd.
