Newtown Tradition Sends Kids, Adults Scrambling At Goodnoe School

NEWTOWN, PA — Now you see them. Now you don’t.

Within minutes, 9,000 brightly colored plastic eggs disappeared from the field behind Goodnoe Elementary School on Saturday morning, scooped up by hundreds of youngsters, parents and even grandparents who scrambled across the field during Newtown’s annual spring egg hunt.

The scramble begin at 9:15 a.m. sharp behind the school moving up through each age group category to grandparents and adults who were invited to take part in the hunt.

When it was all said and done, kids, their parents and their grandparents - made their way off the field with buckets, baskets and bags filled with eggs.

“It was fabulous,” said grandmother Sandy Lancia who works as a recess aide at Goodnoe. “This is my first time here at the hunt. It was so organized. There was even a category for grandparents and I’m still standing,” she laughed, adding that the competition out on the field was formidable. “To my surprise us grandparents did pretty good. We were really moving. And I collected about 20 eggs.”

The grandparents hit the ground running. (photos by Jeff Werner)

Parents race into the field. (photos by Jeff Werner)

The eggs were donated by the First National Bank of Newtown and were filled with chocolaty Easter treats generously provided by Sam’s Club.

A few lucky egg hunters found a golden egg, which entitled them to prizes donated by Opus Elite Realty, Zebra-Striped Whale, Triple Sun, Newtown Chocolatier, Playa Bowls, Newtown Book Shop, Party Fair and Paul Salvatore and Keller Williams.

“That was amazing,” said Mick Petrucci, president of the Newtown Rotary Club, remarking at how quickly the eggs disappeared. This is the second year the hunt was organized by the Rotary Club, which took it over from the Newtown Business Association last year.

“It takes months of planning. It takes hours of setup. And it takes a lot of trips to Sam’s Club, but it literally takes minutes for the eggs to disappear from the field. It’s literally that quick. And
everyone seemed to have a great time. I’m looking around and it looks like everyone has an abundance of eggs.

Rotarians Paul Salvatore and Mick Petrucci (President) with the Easter Bunny.

“We had a lot of candy. We had a lot of support from our Rotary members to make the event a reality,” Petrucci continued. “Even with the postponement it was good to see people come out for a community-based tradition.”

Added Rotarian Paul Salvatore, “I’d like to thank the volunteers who came out this morning to help set up. Everything worked well. There’s not a single egg out there out of the 9,000 that were on that field. Not one.

“It went great,” Salvatore added. “It paid holding off a weekend. The weather cooperated. “We definitely had a lot of excitement. And the turnout was phenomenal.”

“It’s just nice to keep the tradition alive. That’s what it’s about,” added Petrucci. “This is about bringing the community together for a happy, positive time. There’s no agenda here. It’s just come, have fun and for a lot of people it’s been a tradition forever.”