Columbia Daily Spectator - April 21, 2003
Children Look for Eggs, Bring Neighbors Together
The event, sponsored in part by Columbia, included a number of fraternity and sorority volunteers.
By Ciel Hunter - Spectator Associate News Editor
Chocolate and jellybeans were not the only things producing smiles at Saturday's
third annual Easter egg hunt in Morningside Park.
The event also attempted to give residents from the three neighborhoods
surrounding the park--Morningside Heights, Harlem, and Manhattanville--a
chance to spend time together as a community, something all three neighborhoods rarely do.
Margaret Hunt Gram/CDS
A young participant in Saturday's annual Easter Egg Hunt in Morningside Park shows off the spoils of his successful search.
It worked. Community spirit pervaded the air as parents, children, and even Columbia students came together for a morning of fun, games, and easter eggs. Estimates ranged from 200 to 600 participants, all of whom left with a smile and a bag full of candy.
The organization Friends of Morningside Park, with help from Columbia fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon and sorority Kappa Alpha Theta, organized the day's festivities. They worked for weeks ahead of time to prepare for the day's activities, which included face painting, an egg toss, a bunny hop, and of course the egg hunt.
"There are three communities [surrounding the park], and it brings them all in," said Doug Robinson, the president emeritus of Friends of Morningside Park. "You work together, you play together. ... It's a common ground."
He added that the activity not only strengthens community ties, but helps introduce people to the park itself.
"[For some people] it's the first time they've been to the park, and they see how great it is," Robinson said.
Organizers also hoped to provide a smaller and more accessible alternative to the Central Park event held at the same time.
"Now it's starting to catch on," Robinson said. "People don't want to go to Central Park. [Here] you meet kids from surrounding neighborhoods."
But community spirit aside, the focus of the day was undoubtedly on the children.
As they arrived at the scene of the hunt, the children were greeted by a field of 5,000 Easter eggs spread across the park.
But once the young scavengers were let loose, it took mere minutes to clear the field.
"I got a lot of eggs," 10-year-old Natalie said while showing off a plastic Duane Reade bag bursting with the tiny treasures.
Ten-year-old Joel shared Natalie's enthusiasm, saying that this year's hunt was "good because there were so many eggs."
He added that even with the abundance of plastic eggs in the field, it was hard to fill your bag because "kids started taking eggs from each other."
This created a competitive atmosphere that Joel described as "fierce."
Indeed, the children were so engrossed in the heat of the race that they trampled daffodils and even ran into each other.
But the hunt was not only about brute force. Some youngsters employed careful strategy and forethought.
Eight-year-old Saeed admitted that he chose to enter a younger age bracket because he felt he would have a better chance of finding more eggs and would have an edge on the competition. "The little ones are slow," he said.
Still, not all of the kids took the event so seriously. Many were just there to have fun.
"I loved it," said six-year-old Brianna, clutching her bounty. And it was not just the Easter egg hunt that produced such positive reactions. The other hot attraction of the day was an appearance by the Easter Bunny--also known as Jeff Engler, CC '05.
Engler, in full rabbit garb, frightened some children at first, but he eventually won over all the kids to the point that they were hugging him as a horde.
One little girl, Tess, became so attached to the Easter Bunny that she would not let go.
After five minutes of Tess attaching herself to the Bunny, her mother finally asked, "Tess, are you going home with the Easter Bunny tonight?"
The Columbia students who organized the day's festivities were pleased with the outcome.
"It was a fun event," said Adam Schenk, SEAS '03, adding that one of the highlights was "trying to wrangle 50 kids during the beginning and occupying them until we let them loose."
"It was great to see the looks on their faces," said Diana Benton, CC '05 and the service chair for Kappa Alpha Theta. Benton, a Spectator staff member, was one of the main liaisons between Columbia and Friends of Morningside Park.
Even the Easter Bunny himself had a fun time.
"It's incredibly rewarding," Easter Bunny Jeff Engler, CC '05, said.
"All these kids want to come and hug you."
