By MADDY VITALE
Families filled the Ocean City Boardwalk on Saturday with children carrying Easter baskets, some even wearing bunny ears, to pick plastic eggs from big baskets that held candies, toys and other surprises at dozens of stores and restaurants.
Kacie Craig, of Sayreville, N.J., brought her daughters, Maddie, 3, and 5-year-old Chelsea, down for the Great Egg Hunt. Now in its third year, the event has become a major attraction for families with children up to age 7 to search for eggs from an array of Boardwalk businesses.
“We’ve come down to the city every year for the last 40 years,” Craig said of her family tradition. “This is one of our favorite events.”
Maddie and Chelsea each held up their eggs to proudly display some of their finds.
After “hopping” to only a few merchant shops, the girls already had collected eggs containing faux tattoos, little toys and candies.
Like the Craigs, the event is also a holiday tradition for Colleen and Matt Ambrosine, of Broomall, Pa., who brought their children, Noelle, 2, and 4-year-old big brother MJ, down for a fun-filled weekend.
“It’s a fun family adventure,” Colleen said.
“It’s a great weekend getaway,” Matt added.
The event went from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Shortly before 1 p.m., kids lined up at Jilly’s Candy Factory to select from 1,000 multi-colored plastic eggs that filled a very large box.
Leni Levchuk, 9, of Ocean City, and her sister, 8-year-old Jordan, whose parents, Jody and Jill Levchuk, own the shop, handed eggs to very excited kids.
Julia Anderson, 8, of Somers Point, was happy to get a deep blue egg that she hoped was filled with goodies.
And a Great Egg Hunt couldn’t really be a great event without the Easter Bunny, who made a very special appearance.
Oliver Dempsey, 7, of Lafayette, Pa., and his sister, 3-year-old Fiona, got to meet the Easter Bunny and take their picture with him.
Fiona got to high-five the Easter Bunny.
“Easter is fun!” Oliver exclaimed.
Saturday’s event was the second of two Great Egg Hunts on the Boardwalk. The first was held last weekend.
In 2021, the Boardwalk Merchants Association (BMA) came up with the novel way to do an Easter egg hunt for children up to 7 years old.
Traditionally, the egg hunt had been held on the beach, with thousands of stuffed multi-colored plastic eggs filled with candies, toys and other goodies.
But amid the COVID-19 pandemic, due to gathering restrictions, the city canceled the hunt for 2020 and 2021.
The Great Egg Hunt was so well-received in 2021 that the BMA decided to make it a yearly tradition.
