Giant egg hunt planned this Saturday

By Melinda L. Lucas

The chance to hunt for eggs by the basketful should make for a fun Saturday for local children.

With a new late afternoon time, members of the Albany Volunteer Fire Department will host their annual Easter egg hunt at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 16 at Webb City Park.

The egg hunt is open to all local children and their guests.

This will be the 20th year for the community egg hunt, which is normally set for mid-afternoon.

AVFD officer Alison Gardenhire explained that the department decided to try out a later time for a couple of reasons.

“There have been years when it’s really hot at 3:00 p.m., and we’re hoping that the 5:30 p.m. time will be a little cooler,” she said. “We’re going to test it out this year and see how it goes.”

The main reason for the change, however, is the fact that the Albany Car Show falls on the same day.

The fire department provides a bounce house during the event, and typically has some kind of meal fundraiser, depending on availability of personnel.

“It would be really difficult to get 5,000 eggs on the ground and be at the car show at the same time,” said Gardenhire.

The park will be sectioned off for each individual age group, and all children will need to meet at the pool entrance before the hunt begins to find the correct section.

The groups are ages zero to three, ages four to six, ages seven to nine, and ages 10 and up.

Members of the VFD spend several hours getting ready for the hunt, with firefighters setting up the age group areas and hiding over 5,000 eggs.

In addition to candy eggs, gold and silver coins will be provided as prizes courtesy of First National Bank and First Financial Bank.