When I was eight years old, my family and I went to Niagara Falls for an Easter egg hunt. This wasn’t just any Easter egg hunt. It was the official Hershey Easter Egg Hunt, organized with the intention of breaking the world record. Hershey provided all the chocolate and candy, and the Niagara Parks Commission provided the prizes of roller blades and Razor scooters to those who found the lucky eggs. The grand prize, provided by Niagara Falls Tourism, was a family trip to Disney World. The event was going to be so big, it made it into the Toronto newspapers, which is how my parents found out about it. We saw in the event the potential for something legendary, so my mother called up her brother in Fonthill and convinced him that his daughters had to take part in the event too. On Saturday, April 14, 2001 — thirteen years ago Monday, for those who wish to keep track — eight of us hopped into my uncle’s van, and we headed to Niagara Falls.
When we arrived at Queen Victoria Park, there was already an enormous crowd gathered around the hay-strewn field. My aunt lined my cousins and me up in our pastel spring coats and told us that we were to meet by a tree behind the field if we got separated. We stood behind the rope, waiting. There was still a half-hour until the event was supposed to start, and the crowd was getting restless. One of the organizers thought he would try to pass the time by starting the wave. He explained what he was going to do, and to start the wave, he counted down, “Three, two, one.” But something went wrong. Someone missed the instructions. Even it if was only one child who had misunderstood, nothing could stop the wave of chaos once it began. At one, the children pushed down the barriers and took off running. Just before my cousins and I took off too, my aunt called out, “Don’t forget the tree!” We, too, entered into the hunt, which had become more of a battle. Families were separated, and children were crying in the hay. I tore through piles of hay searching for the egg that contained the elusive trip to Disney World. I was unable to find it, and after fifteen minutes or so in the fray, I sauntered over to the designated tree with a plastic bag overflowing with chocolate eggs.
The Hershey Easter Egg Hunt was a disaster in the eyes of the organizers. Because the event had started before it was supposed to, there weren’t enough children in attendance to break the record. Children were lost, people were injured, and I’m pretty sure that the man who started the ill-fated wave was fired. To my family, however, the event was a grand success. We retreated to my grandfather’s in Chippawa, and took advantage of what turned out to be four months’ worth of chocolate.
Finally, for those who are wondering how I managed to keep my Hershey Easter Egg Hunt sticker over a period of thirteen years: all manner of oddities exist on the top shelf of my closet. You just never know when an object from the past can become a source of inspiration or the subject of a blog post.
2021 update: I received a message on Instagram from the man who led the ill-fated wave at the Easter egg hunt: “Just wanted to let you know I was the guy who waved all the children in prematurely. I loved your story. By the way, I never got fired but I did get in a lot of trouble.”
Song of the Day: Call It Off by Tegan and Sara
