Bunny brings candy-filled eggs to kids for ‘socially-distanced Easter egg hunts’

When Lisa Blazer got the phone call saying the Easter Bunny would be at her house in five minutes, she corralled her two kids and brought them to her front door, telling them, “it’s a surprise.”

Within a few minutes, a Park District of Franklin Park van drove up and two actors, costumed as the bunny and Franklin the Penguin, hopped out and brought a bag of candy-filled eggs to the children’s doorstep, being careful to maintain at least a six-foot social distance in the COVID-19 era.

“When the kids saw the bunny they were so excited they were jumping up and down and smiling from ear to ear. Then they saw the eggs,” Blazer recounted.

She told her children, Michael, 5, and Madelyn, 4, the characters dropped off the eggs so the kids could do a safe egg hunt at home.

“Because of the germs!” one child shouted, figuring out immediately why this year was not like last year, when the Park District of Franklin Park scattered Easter eggs in a field and let dozens of children run around gathering them.

“With the current pandemic, we had to cancel our Easter Egg Hunt which was scheduled for [Saturday] morning,” said Marco Galassini, marketing and communications manager for the Park District of Franklin Park, in an email. “Instead, we decided to have the Easter Bunny and Franklin the Penguin deliver Easter eggs to homes so families can have their own socially distanced Easter egg hunts tomorrow.”

The characters delivered eggs April 1 and 2 to more than 100 homes in the district, including Aileen Marquez’s. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the district’s egg hunt had been planned for April 4.

“The kids really did enjoy it,” said Marquez. “It was special to not actually know what was in the eggs.”

 Malgorzata Krajewska was out walking the dog with her kids, Maria, 8, and Andrzej, 10, Uzarewicz, when the heads-up phone call came. Because they were two blocks from home, the costumed characters met them on a nearby corner.

“I was impressed they offered something like that,” she said. “It was really nice.”

Renee Kohler was happy her two children, Addison 10, and Ricky, 7, were excited to see the characters and not disappointed at missing the traditional egg hunt.

“They allow any Franklin Park resident to register free of charge,” she said. “It’s just a great thing to do for the community.”