Columbia Daily Spectator - April 12, 2004
Egg Hunt Shows Off Play Area's New Face
Morningside Park Friends See Signs of Rebirth in 600-Child Easter Egg Hunt Turnout
By Kate Prengel
At least 600 children and their parents showed up for Saturday's annual Easter egg hunt in Morningside Park, surpassing the organizers' expectations and giving them hope that Morningside Park, once considered the most dangerous park in Manhattan, might be experiencing a renaissance.
Last year, just 125 children showed up, said Doug Robinson, the president of Friends of Morningside Park. "It just goes to show that the neighborhood is changing," he added.
Barbara Hohol, a volunteer with the Friends, has lived in the area for over 40 years. She remembers a time when the park was too dangerous to walk through, even in the afternoon, and events like the egg hunt would have been unthinkable. She said she hopes the neighborhood will continue to improve.
"Whatever we start here will hopefully move out from the park" and into the neighboring communities, she said.
Robinson, whom Friends volunteers described as the "heart and soul" of the Morningside Park revival effort, mentioned that Columbia University has played a role in helping his organization. He said that he would like to see Columbia become a "full partner" of the park, similar to how NYU is a partner of Washington Square Park.
"It's in Columbia's best interest," Robinson said, pointing out that a safe, vital Morningside Park is a boost to the whole neighborhood.
Parents said they were thrilled that the egg hunt was held in their neighborhood. Joyce Hopper has lived in Morningside Heights since the 1960s, and she said the park has always been important to her.
"I raised my five children in this park," she said. "We were here every day. Now I'm here with my three grandchildren and my adopted son."
Teresa Bautista used to take her three children to the egg hunt in Central Park. She was proud to bring them to Morningside Park this year.
"They should run more events in this community," she said. "It's a beautiful community."
Friends of Morningside Park is indeed planning more events, like a film festival this summer. Volunteers and staff said that events like the egg hunt help motivate residents to take a greater interest in their community.
Kenneth Armston, the Friends secretary, said that residents take better care of the park now, although he grumbled that many of the kids were picking the daffodils. Still, he said, things are better than they used to be. "It's given people a greater interest in the park; they look after it more," he admitted.
The park was awash in color on the day of the hunt, with the sun shining plentifully on the blue, pink, and green plastic eggs that volunteers had "hidden" on the sloping fields. Children, divided into groups based on their ages, raced to collect the most eggs.
Members of the Columbia sorority Kappa Alpha Theta helped hide the eggs (most of them in plain view), and also organized an egg-and-spoon race before the egg hunt. "There's such a great interest this year," said Blair Bodine, CC '06 and a sorority sister. "A lot of kids got to participate."
Christina McKnight and her best friend, Cristina Navarro, hunted for eggs on the field set aside for their age group, eight- to 10-year-olds. Kids spread out across the grass, turning over stones and reaching into the hollows of tree trunks.
The park was crowded, but the atmosphere remained friendly. Kids laughed and jostled each other; parents, just as interested as their children, shouted advice from the sidelines.
Some of the advice was misguided. "When they say go, you have to run and look for the bunny," one mother told her three children just before the hunt began.
There was, of course, no bunny. There were, however, some "special" big eggs with glittery patterns on them, and the children who found them could turn them in for prizes.
Kisasi Brooks, community coordinator for the Friends, seemed divided between pride and amusement at the event's success. "We put out 5,000 eggs," he said, "and 500 kids got 5,000 eggs in five minutes."
After all the eggs had been found, children and parents lined up to collect bags of candy. Robinson handed out sweets and warm words to everyone. "Aren't you a little too old for a candy egg?" he teased one woman. But he gave her the egg anyway, reminding her to come back for next year's hunt.
