Hunt draws hundreds to find elusive golden eggs

The Wall Recreation Department held its annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday at the municipal complex, with hundreds of children braving high winds as they ran to find the elusive golden egg.

Children ages 2 through 10 participated in the hunt, which was held using hardboiled eggs this year, said Wall Township Recreation Coordinator Ed Grill. He said that because the eggs were hardboiled and not plastic eggs -- except for the golden eggs -- they were not blown around at all.

The Easter Egg Hunt would not have been such a huge success without the children that had anticipated the signal of the fire engine and scrambled off on their hunt at the sound of the siren, according to Mr. Grill. He said the children scurried throughout the fields to collect the eggs and to hopefully discover a special golden, prize egg. The prize winners were awarded a special Easter Basket, which was filled with chocolate, candy, and toys.

"The kids got very excited when the Easter Bunny showed up on one of the Glendola Fire Company's fire engines," said Mr. Grill. "They were jumping up and down with excitement."

The recreation coordinator said this year's event was even bigger than last year, and attributed the success to all of those who volunteered their time.

The recreation department would like to thank the following for volunteering their time and effort: Hinck's Turkey Farm for providing their facility to cook and color the eggs, to the Wall Lions' Club for coloring the 330 dozen eggs the night before, the Red Oak Woman's Cub for carefully packaging the goodie bags for the children, and the Glendola Fire Company for transporting the Easter Bunny to the municipal complex.

Mr. Grill also wished to thank the Easter Bunny's very special friend, Wall resident Kristin Coman, for coming out for the morning and helping to make the event a great success.

The program is open to boys and girls from Wall and Belmar ages 10 through 17. The hours are from 10 a.m. to noon, Monday through Thursday from June 29 to last week in July at the 6th Avenue beach in Belmar.

The winners of the 2-4 age group are first place winner Dylan Racioppi, 4, second place winner Carter Colatrella, 3, and third place winner Jake Wangerien, 3. The 5-7 age group winners are Declan Savage, 6, who came in first place, Leah Kazemayer, 7, who came in second, and Ashley Crowley, 6, who took third place. The winners of the 8-10 age group are first place winner Andrew Mechlinski, 9, second place winner Connor Kessler, 9, and third place winner Austin Racine, 9.