Children scramble for Easter eggs

The 33rd annual Carson City Easter Egg Hunt this year featured a new venue, more than 20,000 eggs, several hundred kids, and no one got trampled.

At noon on Saturday, the kids ran onto the softball fields at Centennial Park to snatch up as many eggs as possible. There were about 600 prizes hidden inside some of the 12,000 plastic eggs scattered across the fields, along with more than 8,000 real eggs that were boiled and colored by volunteers for the event.

Meanwhile parents were kept behind yellow caution tape where they cheered their children on from a safe distance.

"We had to do some changes for the safety of the kids," said event coordinator Bobby Bean, who was busy putting up signs before the main event. "My granddaughter got trampled last year, so we aren't going to let parents on the field. We are going to see how that goes over."

And the changes seemed to have worked.

After complaints from last year about children being hurt in the stampede to grab eggs, organizers of the event moved it from Governor's Field to give everyone more space.

"What we wanted to do is to spread it all out," Bean said. "Instead of having four age groups on one field, now they are on different fields."

The event also was moved to the Saturday before Easter in order to have more help on hand. Bean said that because people wanted to be with their families on Easter Sunday, it was harder to round up volunteers. Approximately 70 people volunteered for Saturday's event, up from the 40 who helped last year.

After scouring the fields for eggs, many families sat down for some impromptu picnics on the grass, or posed for pictures with the Easter Bunny.

Earlier in the day, there was another Easter egg hunt for kids age 3 and under, and for special-needs children.

The Carson City Kiwanis and Sierra Kiwanis clubs held put on the event, along with Boy Scout Troop 145, Sunshine Girls and other volunteers. Bean said the event is made possible by donations by individuals and businesses.