PITTSFIELD — The second annual Westside Legends Easter egg hunt didn’t go as planned. But for the more than 100 community members who attended Saturday, it didn’t matter.
What was supposed to be an orderly hunt separated into four age groups quickly turned into a joyful free-for-all, with kids of all ages racing to gather as many eggs as possible from the 3,000 plastic ones scattered throughout Durant Park.
Parents cheered as their young hunters snagged as many eggs as they could and dropped them into baskets, with a few nabbing coveted golden eggs that contained raffle tickets for prizes like a new bicycle or a television set.
All that mattered was that the kids had fun. As Beverly Bolden, the vice president of Westside Legends, put it: “An egg is an egg is an egg.”
Tony Jackson, president of Westside Legends, joked that it was “3,000 eggs too many.” Organizers had to painstakingly fill each egg with candy and toys by hand before the event.
But it was well worth the effort. Organizers said the event’s turnout was a marked increase over Westside Legends’ first egg hunt last year. The Pittsfield nonprofit aims to provide resources and programming to residents of the city’s West Side.
“This one has already surpassed [last year],” Jackson said shortly after the hunt concluded.
“We couldn’t be happier with the turnout and the weather,” said Britney Danials, a planner with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, which sponsored the event.