'Punching, Tears, Chaos': Parents Fuming Over Westfield Easter Egg Hunt

Westfield, NJ -- An Easter Egg Hunt in town ended with children in tears as parents complained of their children being trampled and pushed and even some parents getting into fist fights.

The free hunt, by Williams Nursery in Westfield, gathered thousands of locals on Saturday, March 26. This was the 20th year the nursery has held the hunt.

Parents were not pleased, according to feedback provided after the hunt.

"The worst experience ever. My child was getting an egg while a parent punched another woman in the face and a man punched a guy in his face and it became a rumble while my poor son was getting an egg. Luckily I was able to grab my son and he was crying and so scared," wrote a person on Williams Nursery's Facebook page.

However the owner said the chaos came as a total surprise.

"This was a surprise when you do something for 20 years and all of sudden you get three times the amount of people," David Williams, owner of the nursery told Patch. "It was the biggest year ever. It was totally unexpected."

• This wasn't the only egg hunt that turned ugly. A hunt offered by PEZ in Connecticut also was bum-rushed by parents.

The nursery had advertised 6,000 eggs, but many parents complained on the nursery's Facebook page that their children left crying with no eggs.

"Absolutely DISAPPOINTED !!! The look on over 100 kids faces that didn't get anything because some of the parents pushed there kids theu is sad and very very wrong !!" wrote one person.

However, Williams noted there were some glimmers of kindness during the event.

"The one shining light, my friend who was the Easter Bunny, said one kids got three eggs in the hunt and gave one to Easter Bunny," Williams said. "She was very touched about that. There were other kids that did share some of their eggs to other kids who were crying. There are always those glimmers and we don't want those things to be completed shadowed by this."

There were also several complaints of unruly parents.

"The parents I saw pushing kids should be ashamed of themselves," another wrote.

"It was poorly organized and chaos with such a big crowd. Several children even got lost during the egg hunt!" said another.

"I know this is upsetting to parents but it is also upsetting to us," Williams said. "We've been doing it for years and having fun and we look forward to having it."

Williams said the entire staff at the nursery is considering options for next year.

"We are considering options for next year," Williams said. "If we do something we will have a ticketed type system to know how many people are coming in advance or take a year off from doing it."

Williams Nursery did issue an apology to parents on Sunday:

Thank you all for your comments to our Easter Egg Hunt. We have been running this event for the past twenty years, and I know those have been here in past years noticed a dramatic change. We estimate that the number of people that showed up yesterday was between two to three times that of past years. I have no explanation for why there were so many more people this year than in past years. I know that the Westfield Lions club canceled their hunt this year after 40 years of providing a hunt to Westfield, but not sure how much of an impact that had on our numbers. This year we had reduced our marketing budget for the event by almost 75%. In the past I had promoted this event with contests on facebook, and boosted many of our posts. This year I did not do that.

Unfortunately the number of people that showed up this year caught us unaware; there were not enough eggs, or enough space for people to have a fun event. Last year we increased the amount of eggs on the field to six thousand, which we believed was an adequate amount. Regrettably this was not the case this year, and it was not our intention to have a bunch of sad and disappointed children and parents. In their haste to not miss our event, people trampled through our neighbors yards, took needed doctors parking spaces at the local vet group, and created a traffic nightmare. I apologize to all those people that were impacted by people coming to our event.

We tried to do the best we could yesterday given the circumstances, however, I know that many of you did not have a good time, and left many of you angry and disappointed. The family and staff are discussing what to do in the future with the egg hunt, in either a way to limit the crowds, or to cancel the event completely, and will keep you posted when the decision is made.

--David Williams

After the apology was posted many locals came out in support of the nursery.

"Williams nursery is a great place to visit and shop.. your plants and service are excellent... I thank you for trying to have a very nice free event," one person wrote.

"You shouldn't have to apologize for wanting to put on an event for the kids. Thank you for being an important part of the community," wrote another.

"I was happy to see some support from customers," Williams said. "I am sorry this turned into a mess. I think it's just a learning experience for everybody."