Hundreds gather for Riverfront Park Easter egg hunt

The anticipation built Saturday morning as kids waited behind yellow caution tape blocking them from meadows in Riverfront Park littered with Easter eggs.

They clutched pails, buckets, baskets and grocery bags – anything to hold the booty they would collect.

The event, returning from a three-year hiatus, was hosted by IHeartMedia and One Heart Spokane, an outreach ministry of Real Life Ministries. Organizers filled 13,000 eggs for children up to age 10. They were swept clean in about one minute.

Kids were divided by age into three hunts at different meadows. After a countdown, they were released, moving quickly and efficiently, snatching up any egg within reach. Parents stood back, shouting encouragement. The meadows were quickly picked clean.

Breanna Barger-Kamate said her 18-month-old daughter came away with three eggs.

“She got two on her own and one as a donation,” she said. “She also picked up some trash.”

It was the first egg hunt for Barger-Kamate’s two children.

“It was good fun,” she said. “Very brief.”

Before the egg hunt began, Tina Gaunt gave her jacket to one of her granddaughters to wear to ward off the chill.

“I used to bring my kids, so I thought I’d bring my grandkids,” Gaunt said. “I did it all the time as a kid, too. It’s part of the tradition.”

Granddaughter Madison McQueen, 9, wore her Easter dress for the occasion and had the ambitious goal of collecting 50 eggs.

“Me and my cousin, we’re going to work together,” she said.

Stephanie Cox brought her three children after searching for an egg hunt to take them to.

“I like that it’s a little later in the morning,” she said. “It’s just something for the kids to do. They have fun.”

Many kids didn’t seem to have a plan. Some pounced on the nearest egg, while others rushed close to the center of the field before stooping to grab the brightly colored plastic eggs.

Cox’s children had a simple strategy, she said. “Just go for it.”