Belmont Parks and Recreation hosted its annual Egg Adventure Hunt last Saturday, bringing together the community in a fun and family-friendly way.
Children of all ages from all parts of the community anxiously waited for the countdown that began the egg hunt. With the bell’s ring, children flooded the search areas to fill their baskets with brightly colored eggs.
The Egg Adventure Hunt has been a local tradition for the Belmont community since the 1990s. Subsequently, the annual event has continuously evolved as it grew in popularity.
“It started back in the 90s. So it’s been going on for quite a while. I would say that over time, it’s just gotten bigger and bigger. By 2019, we had around 500 kiddos, and it’s gotten up to be in the two thousand range. So it’s gotten gradually bigger as the years go by,” said Danielle Giuliacci, a Belmont Parks and Recreation Department coordinator.
What made this year special is the Parks and Recreation Department’s dedication to inclusivity with the first adaptive egg hunt for those with special needs. Hosted the day prior, this new addition allowed everyone to enjoy the festivities and further create a sense of community.
“This year, for the first time yesterday, we offered an egg hunt exclusively for individuals with disabilities. So, it was a separate event yesterday. We would like to include that on the day of the main event and not make it a separate day going forward,” Giuliacci said.
Primarily organized by Belmont Parks and Recreation, the event also enlisted the help of eager volunteers and law enforcement. Making the egg hunt not only possible but also safe and accessible for all families.
“Belmont Parks and Recreation does the majority of the planning before, but on the day of operations, we do bring in our VOICES volunteers, which are a group of high school students that are focused on community service events, so they do all the volunteer work for us for the day and they’re super helpful. We also have our part-time staff members along with the Belmont Police Department here as well to support the event,” Giuliacci said.
The Volunteers Outreach Involvement Community Events and Services (VOICES) played a crucial part in setting up the event with decorations and booths. They also actively participated in the event by handing out and throwing extra eggs into the air for children to run after in excitement.
“By the time the kids basically picked up all the eggs, we started kind of herding them around tossing eggs into the air; all of it was super fun,” said Wyatt Price, a VOICES volunteer and junior at Carlmont High School.
Among the young volunteers, many remarked feeling a sense of joy and fulfillment in seeing the smiles of the children and their parents throughout the duration of the event.
“Honestly, it’s just seeing all the kids happy. It’s also like the biggest event we have. There were tens of thousands of eggs and poof; they were gone in about two minutes. So that was really cool to see,” said Christopher Nelson, a VOICES volunteer and junior at Carlmont High School.
Laughing, smiling, and recording the spectacle on their cellphones, parents who attended the event expressed their fondness for the event. They praised its accessibility to the community, its family-friendly atmosphere, and its ability to serve as an opportunity to bring everyone together.
“It brings everyone together to the park and even though the hunt ends, people are hanging out at the park. We just saw some old friends while we were walking around. It was nice to reconnect, and both parents and kids get to mingle. Overall, it was a good time,” said Jennifer Marvis, a guest and parent at the event.
With the conclusion of the egg hunt, along with the many other easter-themed activities, such as jelly bean counts and photoshoots with costumed bunny rabbits, attendees left with a renewed sense of community and a smile on their faces.
“We look forward to hosting it every year, and it’s great to see how much we evolved over the years. I would just like to say thank you to everyone who came out here today,” Giuliacci said.
