The hunt is on

Published 12:00 am Sunday, April 17, 2011

As parents watch along the sidelines, children run around collecting as many eggs as they can.

COAL GROVE — A little water was not enough to dampen the spirits of dozens of children and their parents who came to an Easter egg hunt in Coal Grove Saturday morning.

Abbott Home Health Care, along with the Coal Grove Betterment Club, hosted the egg hunt, which was planned for Paul Porter Park, but was moved inside to Dawson-Bryant Middle School when the rain came.

Three thousand candy-filled Easter eggs covered the gym floor with blues, pinks, yellows, purples and greens.

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This is the first time in a few years that the Betterment Club has hosted an egg hunt, club member Vickie McDaniel said. Abbott approached the club with the idea.

“We voted to go in with them,” McDaniel said. “It’s for the children. They love it and Abbott really did it all. I think it’s nice that they do that for the community. Bryan (Gilpin, of Abbott) has really put a lot of time into it.

“That’s what the Betterment Club is for is the community and if we can make a child happy that’s what we’re going to do.”

Abbott owners Paulette Klaiber and Anna Malone said they wanted to give back to the community.

“And I think we get more out of it than we give,” Malone.

First-grader Brianna Owens, who won a bicycle at the event, might disagree.

“That’s the first thing she said when she came in is ‘I like that bike,’” Brianna’s mother Audry Owens said.

Later in the afternoon, the sun had reappeared in time for the egg hunt hosted by the Lawrence County Museum. Dozens of children and their parents gathered to find about 200 eggs – many of which that were stuffed with money or candy — that were hidden on the museum lawn. Three lucky egg-hunters walked away with an Easter basket as a prize.

Linda Bailey brought her two children, who are 1 and 5 years old.

“She just likes to hunt Easter eggs and this is his first time,” Bailey said.

Elizabeth Melvin, one of the head docents of the museum, said besides giving prizes to children, the egg hunt had another purpose.

“To promote the museum because so few people realize we have a museum,” Melvin said.