With the multi-colored Easter eggs speckling the nearby lawn, a crowd of children – parents in tow – lined the steps of the Lawrence County Courthouse. Baskets in hand, they sat gazing eagerly toward the eggs and waited rather impatiently for the go-ahead to start their search at the Ironton Business Association’s annual egg hunt.

But that didn’t happen before the arrival of a very special guest.

“We can’t have an Easter egg hunt without the Easter Bunny,” Firefighter Louie Sheridan replied to a child asking when he could start looking. “Do you see the Easter Bunny?”

No, he replied.

“All right then,” Sheridan said.

The Easter Bunny would come soon enough, making an entrance the same way it has for years: on a fire engine.

Children waved as the Bunny was escorted – a firefighter at each arm – up the walkway at the courthouse.

“Look, it’s the Easter Bunny,” one boy exclaimed.

After a brief pause for pictures, it was time to begin.

“One… Two… three, let’s hunt eggs!” Sheridan announced to the children, already headed toward their prizes.

Just minutes later they were finished and counting their eggs.

Eight-year-old Cindy Ackerson had 15. It was a pretty good number, she said.

“I like finding the eggs and getting the candy,” Cindy said.

Her friend Taylor Bronson was happy with the 12 she picked up.

“This is about my third time (going to the hunt),” Taylor said.

The annual IBA egg hunt, put on this year with the help of the Ironton Fire Department, has become a tradition for lots of people, including Edith Bailey, who came with her son, daughter and niece.

“We come here every year,” Bailey said as her daughter Destiny looked through her eggs. “It’s just for fun. I don’t care if they win or lose. It’s just for fun.”