There was no way the unicorn from Wisconsin was going to miss this Easter egg hunt because of some rain.
Saoirse Mitri, 2, of Viola, Wisconsin, was one of more than 200 children gathering up eggs in the wet grass and light rain Saturday morning at Cross of Glory Lutheran Church in Homer Glen. She came wearing a unicorn costume.
Mitri’s grandmother, Pam Visk of Homer Glen, was not going to let Saoirse miss out on this event, even through it was raining heavily for portions of the morning.
“This is her first Easter egg hunt,” Visk said. “I said the people of Cross and Glory went through all of this work and we’re going to show up.”
Visk used to take her own daughter, Carly Visk Mitri, to various events at the church and this time a new generation got to enjoy the event.
An estimated 7,500 eggs were waiting in the grass for children of various ages to gather, many filled with candy.
Joe Connelly Jr., 1, of Orland Park had a basket filled so high that while he tried to walk with it, some of the eggs fell to the ground.
His father and mother, Joe Connelly Sr. and Alexis Hernandez, and sister, Evy, were not deterred by the rain.
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“This was a great time for both of them,” Connelly said. “This was their first Easter egg hunt. We have a good haul here with all the eggs spilling out. Even though it was raining, we had the most fun.”
After the egg hunt, the church opened its doors for another hunt for those with special needs.
“Kids with auditory sensory or any kind of disabilities who just don’t feel comfortable in big groups are welcome to that hunt,” said Bill Bavirsha, the church council president. “We pride ourselves to be welcoming to all. It’s amazing.”
Bavirsha said a few years ago they started the second egg hunt using auditory sounding eggs, eggs taped to the wall and eggs placed in foam peanuts and paper stock.
“It’s something they can feel comfortable with and enjoy the magic of the holiday themselves,” he said.
One girl who filled her basket full of eggs was 7-year-old Kennedy Small, of New Lenox. She has Collagen VI muscular dystrophy. Small uses a wheelchair because while she is able to walk it wears down her muscles.
Small said she can’t remember how many times she has done the hunt. But her parents, Matt and Karissa, say they have been taking her to the Homer Glen church for eggs for years.
“It’s awesome,” Karissa said. “Usually, she wouldn’t have the ability to go out there and pick up eggs on the ground.”
“It’s super fun,” said Matt. “It’s great for kids with all needs.”
Meanwhile, Bavirsha was happy to get the outdoor portion of the egg hunt in without too many weather woes. He said the church has put on some type of Easter event for children for 25 years.
“We’ve been pretty fortunate with the weather over the years,” he said. “This is the first time that I can remember in the last 7-10 years that we had some shady weather. It could be worse.
“But next year, looking ahead, Easter is at the end of March and there could be snow and, my gosh, we don’t want to deal with that.”
Bavirsha, a former assistant athletic director at the University of Illinois-Chicago before retiring two years ago, was also the event’s announcer and joked the Easter egg hunt was the fastest thing in sports next to the Kentucky Derby.
While the eggs were gobbled up swiftly, it took hours to put candy in those eggs.
“We have members here at Cross and Glory who volunteer to help do it,” Bavirsha said. “We also partnered up with Lockport High School and they had special needs people help stuff a ton of eggs.
“They may have done 4,000 or 5,000 eggs themselves.”
But the work is well worth it.
“It’s all about the joy you bring to the people and the community,” Bavirsha said. “We know moms and dads enjoy it.
“A lot of places do theirs a week before Easter but since this is Holy Week for us, we have Thursday and Friday and pump it up on Saturday. Easter is Sunday and we can all relax next week.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southown.