After spending 20 years in London and moving to Naperville three months ago, Adonica Mansfield was impressed by what she saw Saturday morning.
Jolly Old England didn’t have anything like this.
The Great Easter Egg Hunt’s 14,000-plus plastic eggs filled with candy and prizes magically disappeared within minutes after swarms of children were let loose in Naperville’s Frontier Park. The annual tradition is organized by the Naperville Jaycees and Naperville Park District.
Mansfield’s 3-year-old daughter, Naomi, was jumping and dancing after her basket was filled.
“It’s our first proper Easter,” Mansfield said. “We have never had anything like this in London on this scale. This is very much new for us.
“It’s brilliant. It’s a fantastic time.”
Mansfield works for the Northern Trust Corp. in Chicago and has enjoyed her in Naperville so far.
“It’s a wonderful community,” she said. “People said I would love it. Here we are with a beautiful day with the family and the dog, and it has just been great.”
The Khalil family, longtime Naperville residents, also came out to grab some eggs and enjoy the sunny, warm weather.
It was the second year Alexis Khalil brought her son, MJ, 2, and daughter, Kendall, 4, to the event. The children love grabbing the eggs and seeing friends, she said.
Kendall enjoys savoring her bounty, which is what she did last year, she said.
“I took the eggs in my room,” she said “I opened the eggs, put them in the basket and put them in my room.”
Lauren Finnegan, who chaired the hunt for the first time this year, said it’s been a annual event for at least 50 years other than in 2020 and 2021, when COVID-19 forced its cancellation.
“It’s a long-standing Naperville tradition,” she said. “The best part of it is that as Jaycees we can give joy. Having is come back last year was like a renewal.”
As always, the kids grabbed all the eggs distributed over the athletic fields in mere minutes.
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To prepare the plastic eggs?
That takes longer.
A lot longer.
Finnegan has a team that met two nights a week for several weeks to fill them all, she said.
Flash back to the good old days when real eggs were used.
Margo DeGeeter, 80, who was volunteering again on Saturday, said she remembers her first egg hunt in 1972. She participated when women were not allowed in the organization and she was known as a Jaycette.
It was much smaller, and she boiled actual eggs and colored them with her family.
“We made about 144 eggs, and (the hunt) took about a half hour,” DeGeeter said. “It was held at North Central College and my kids helped out.”
While Saturday’s event was free, the Jaycees accepted donations of food to benefit DuPage Pads. And, of course, the Easter Bunny was on hand to greet all the participants.
The next event for the Jaycees is Lobster Day.
Orders need to be placed by May 8 and can be picked up May 13 at Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant, 1270 Chicago Ave. For more information, go to naperjaycees.org.
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.