The Union County Recreation Department has a record 16,000 candy-filled eggs ready to set out for the annual Easter Egg Hunt, this year on Saturday, April 12, starting at 10 a.m. inside the usual Meeks Park hunting grounds.
Families are invited to attend the free community event, with children up to age 12 welcome to participate in the hunt. The staging area is the same as last year at Colwell Fields 1 & 2 in the lower end of the park.
Continue reading with a subscription.
North Georgia News — serving Union County since 1909.
Cancel anytime.
New in 2025 is the inaugural Bunny Run, a fun activity for people of all ages to join the Easter Bunny in jogging a mile inside the park before the egg hunt begins. The middle ballfields will serve as a halfway point for younger kids who want to join the run on the way back.
“They’ll start around the Colwell Field area and run the mile loop around the park,” County Manager Tony Hughes said, adding that the local Bunny Run was inspired by family trips down to Callaway Gardens in past Easter celebrations.
After the Bunny Run, youngsters in three age categories will race to fill their baskets. Kids ages 0-4 will hunt first at Colwell 1, followed by 5 to 9-year-olds on Colwell 2, and then 10 to 12-year-olds in an area behind the fields. Older children in attendance may cheer on their younger siblings.
There may be some special “surprise” eggs for kids to find in the bunch, but regardless, there should be enough of the colorful eggs for the baskets of all children, especially since the total number has nearly doubled from last year.
The Rec Department will be handing out Easter baskets to families that need them, and people are asked not to bring 5-gallon buckets, please.
But wait – there’s more. Each participating child will get the opportunity to receive a raffle ticket for a toy prize, and the Rec Department will once again be handing out free popcorn for families to enjoy.
Of course, kids will have plenty of chances to visit with the Easter Bunny, both for photos and high-fives, and the county is hopeful for a tremendous turnout, as the event has been scheduled the weekend before Easter to accommodate families that travel for the holy holiday.
“We absolutely love the kids of the county, and we appreciate the parents for being involved and bringing them, which gives us an opportunity to spend time with them,” County Manager Hughes said.
A big reason behind the record number of eggs this year is because the Rec Department has experienced a record number of children enrolled in spring sports programs, and Hughes and recreation staff want to keep the egg rolling, so to speak, on youth involvement.
“We love doing things for the kids,” Hughes said. “We’re looking at doing other events in the near future to give kids more opportunities to do different things. The children are our future, and we want them involved with county activities.”
Logistically, the egg hunt is a massive undertaking. Instead of the usual pre-filled option, this year, the Rec Department has been individually stuffing donated plastic eggs with candy. And that’s on top of having to head out early the day of the hunt to transport and scatter them all.
Assisting the Rec Department employees with filling the eggs have been Union County High School Access students, who, thanks to the school’s Community Based Instruction Program, are able to practice life skills while also serving their community.
“Those kids are so much fun,” Assistant Rec Director Susan Stalcup said of the students. “They come in once a month and work for like an hour and a half on different tasks for us, and they are wonderful.”
For all involved each year, the egg-hunt effort is certainly a labor of love, which Stalcup said fits perfectly with the guiding ethos of the Rec Department in providing a wide array of opportunities for the community’s children.
“Everyone thinks the Rec Department is just sports, but we have lots of community events,” Stalcup said. “Whether it’s the Daddy Daughter Dance, the Easter Egg Hunt – we’re not just athletics.
“We do all sorts of different things in the community. (For example), I have a high school group coming over here in a couple weeks that is a hospitality group. We’re always trying to interact with and do things in the community.
“Recreation is the lifeblood of your community, so anything you’re doing in the community is important – for all ages, not just the kids. People automatically think we’re just athletics, but we’re so much more than athletics.”
In the event of inclement weather this Saturday, the egg hunt will be rescheduled to Saturday, April 19 – the day before Easter Sunday.
