Beginning at 11 a.m., the event also featured free face painting provided by local church members, popcorn and a chance to take a picture with the Easter Bunny.
“It’s to be involved in the community,” said Euharlee Police Chief Terry Harget, whose department helped coordinate the event. “We give back to the community. Our job is to be involved and for the kids — they’re our future and we want to make sure the future is taken care of in this city as in any city. And that’s why we have this event, to bring a little spice to their lives.”
According to Harget, the event had about 300 children attending. The children competed for 11,000 eggs, six bicycles and other prices.
“This is the first time we’ve done it in three years,” he said, discussing his department’s involvement in the yearly event. “I just think it got put to the side for some reason or another, and nobody took the reins, and we decided at the police department as a group, ‘We’re gonna take the reins,’ and make sure it keeps happening because our future is the children. That’s what this is what it’s all about.”
Harget’s favorite part of the egg hunt: “Just watching their smiles on their faces, right before they run out and get the eggs, the anticipation.”
Also involved in the event were four local churches: Euharlee Baptist Church, New Corinth Missionary Baptist Church, Community Wesleyan Church and Cornerstone Fellowship Church.
“We get with the other churches in the community, and we do this egg hunt every year,” said Jodie Ross from New Corinth. “We did it at Euharlee Baptist last year.”
She enjoys the community aspect of the event, “just the idea of us all coming together and having a good time.”
“It got started way back when Covered Bridge Players did it,” said Rene Duncan. “Then we invited the community to be a part, so we combined all four churches in the area. This year is the first year the police department has been doing the coordinating of all of it.”
Duncan works with the Covered Bridge Players and her husband is a police officer. “So I have to help,” she laughed, “double duty.”
She dressed up for the hunt as the Easter Bunny. She said she enjoys “playing with the kids, just getting them to lighten up and enjoy it. But my favorite part of the whole thing is just being able to bring the whole community together.”
According to Harget, there many more upcoming events for the community.
“We have the fall festival in Euharlee coming up, we have a barbecue cook-off,” he said. “We’re going to have a couple of other things around the Fourth of July that I’ll announce in the next couple of weeks.”
He also promised bigger things to come for next year’s egg hunt. “Next year it’ll be bigger and better. We’ll have moon bounces, and things like that, and hay rides.”
As for Saturday, “the kids had a great time.”