People in their 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond scurried around Stony Creek Golf Course in Oak Lawn looking for plastic Easter eggs Saturday evening.
“Now we know how the kids feel,” said Maria Castro-Reese, a participant in the Oak Lawn Park District’s first adults only egg hunt.
“I’m reliving my childhood,” said her husband, Jason Reese.
Instead of baskets, they each carried an empty cardboard six-pack, which they filled with six different colored eggs.
And rather than being filled with candy and small toys, the eggs entitled the finder to free drinks or gift cards, worth from $5 to $25 at businesses, such as Jack & Pat’s Butcher Shop in Chicago Ridge, Arena Lanes Bowling Alley, Black Oak Restaurant & Tavern, Cork and Bean coffee and wine bar in Oak Lawn, or a one-year fitness center membership.
There were more than enough eggs for the 38 people who signed up for the hunt, which cost $30.
The alcoholic prizes were a nice twist to a traditional game.
“I love that it comes with a six-pack,” said Kristen Schmidt, of Orland Hills.
But the real draw was participants had to be 21 or older.
“It’s a night out without the kids and with the girlfriends,” said Rebecca Lewis of Tinley Park, who joined Schmidt and two other friends, all wearing bunny ears.
Mary Ann Kapelinski said a friend told her about the novel egg hunt.
“She said, ‘We have to do this.'”
Kapelinski and her husband, Mike, prepared with flashlights and rain ponchos, came with four friends. Some even had lights that fastened around their foreheads to search in dark spaces.
Most of the eggs were in plain sight, if you were looking for them, on door frames, windowsills and around the fireplace in the Stony Creek clubhouse and under the patio furniture and in the golf course landscaping outside.
Robert Starr, of Oak Lawn, was scanning the dining room for plastic eggs as he and his wife, Renee, waited for the hunt to begin.
“I’m making mental notes,” he said.
Renee Starr, a massage therapist and owner of the Mindful Body in Willow Springs, is a member of the Oak Lawn Chamber of Commerce, which sent emails about the event.
What caught her eye was that the hunt was for adults only.
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“Everything is for kids,” she said.
“I asked if it was limited to six eggs (each),” Renee said. She was happy to hear that it was, so people would not become overly competitive.
“I don’t have to worry about fighting somebody for an egg,” said Starr, who also donated gift cards for free massages at Mindful Body as prizes.
More of the eggs would have been outside, but the temperature was in the 30s and it had rained much of the day.
“Do we wish it were maybe 75 and sunny? Sure,” said Cindy Dunne of Oak Lawn. But she said the weather doesn’t spoil the fun “you’re with good company and close friends.”
“I never expected to be doing this at 51 and having so much fun,” said Michelle Gaskin, as she scrambled around looking for a green egg for her mother-in-law, Cookie Gaskin, who was part of her group.
“I would have liked it a little warmer, but you can’t blame Mother Nature and her menopausal ways,” Michelle Gaskin said.
It’s likely the Park District will have another adults only egg hunt next year, and Renee Starr has a suggestion.
“It would be great if they did this out on the golf course with everybody in golf carts driving to different holes,” she said.
Kimberly Fornek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.