Children scramble to clear campus hillside of thousands of Easter eggs

After several false starts, about 200 children cleared Kansas University’s Campanile Hill Friday afternoon of about 4,000 eggs.

Well, maybe about 3,500.

“We had an egg fight and ruined about 500 of them,” said Zach Kerr, an Overland Park freshman in Kansas University’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon. The fraternity and Delta Delta Delta sorority sponsored the event.

So, 3,500 eggs divided by 200 children is about 17 per hunter, right?

“I’m going to get 5 million,” said Brett Hamilton, a 9-year-old student at Schwegler School.

Under a gray sky, neon dots speckled the hill. The event was scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m., but not all buses from the Boys and Girls Club arrived at the same time. So while fraternity and sorority members worked the sidewalk, keeping waiting children off the grass and out of the hunting zone, the young participants planned their strategies for collecting as many candy-filled plastic eggs as possible.

It was the first time the fraternity and sorority sponsored the egg hunt. Busloads of children aged kindergarten through sixth grade from the Mainsite, Schwegler and the Pinckney Boys and Girls clubs piled off the buses and bounced around, plastic grocery bags in hand, waiting for the guy with the bullhorn to say “go!”

Children scurry to gather candy-filled Easter eggs on Kansas University's Campanile Hill. Members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and Delta Delta Delta sorority organized Friday's event for hundreds of Lawrence children.

The signal came at 5:45 p.m. Egg hunters stampeded up the hill, trampling a few of the less-prepared who weren’t wearing running shoes.

The group soon broke into two groups: the hunters and the scavengers. While the hunters trail-blazed, the scavengers played clean-up, scooping up the eggs falling out of the hunters’ overflowing sacks.

Six of the eggs at the top of the hill contained $1 bills. But most of the children didn’t know that.

The hill was clear by about 5:48 p.m. It took three minutes to wipe up a job that took about 20 minutes to lay out, Kerr said.

Lawrence Parks and Recreation will join with Hy-Vee today to sponsor the annual Egg Hunt Eggstravaganza in South Park.The free event is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the park, 1131 Mass.Children participating must check in before hunting. Check- in will be done by last name at the William Kelly Bandstand in South Park. Children with last names beginning with A through M can check in from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.; those with last names beginning with N through Z can check in from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.Children may collect a maximum of five eggs during the hunt. The Easter Bunny will be on hand and will be available for photos. There also will be games and other activities for children.For more information contact Duane Peterson, special events supervisor for the Parks and Recreation Department, at 832-7940.

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