by Rachel Hunter
The Riverview Park Association and Gouverneur Recreation Department will present the 2024 Easter Egg Hunt Eggstravaganza on Saturday, April 13, with festivities starting at 10 a.m., at Riverview Recreational Park in Gouverneur. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.
Faithful readers of the Gouverneur Tribune Press will recall that the inaugural Easter Egg Hunt, hosted by the Riverview Park Association and the Gouverneur Recreation Department, in 2023 was a success with hundreds of local youths hunting for colorful Easter Eggs on the athletic fields at the Riverview Recreational Park.
The 2024 Easter Egg Hunt Eggstravaganza will start at 10 a.m. with sign-ups, visits with the Easter Bunny, kids games, and more. The Easter Egg Hunt will start promptly at 11 a.m. for children 10 and under. It is estimated that there will be over 1000 Easter Eggs for the youths to find. There is no cost to attend, and all North Country families are welcome.
Organizers told the Gouverneur Tribune Press that the Easter Egg Hunt Eggstravaganza was scheduled to be held in mid-April, after the 2024 Easter holiday, in hopes that the athletic fields would be free of snowy conditions. All North Country children are urged to wear weather-appropriate gear for the hunt.
For many families Easter just isn’t Easter without the annual egg hunt. There have been community-wide Easter Egg Hunts in Gouverneur, Richville, Oxbow, DeKalb, and other North Country communities this 2024 Easter season, and there is much anticipation for the 2024 Easter Egg Hunt Eggstravaganza at the Riverview Recreational Park this Saturday, April 13.
Did you know? The custom of the Easter egg hunt comes from Germany. Some suggest that its origins date back to the late 16th century, when the Protestant reformer Martin Luther organized egg hunts for his congregation. The men would hide the eggs for the women and children to find. This was a nod to the story of the resurrection, in which the empty tomb was discovered by women.
In the German Lutheran tradition the Easter egg hunt is linked to the Easter Bunny – or the Easter Hare as he was originally known. The first written reference to the Easter Hare was in 1682 in Georg Franck von Franckenau’s essay, De ovis paschalibus (‘About Easter eggs’). However links between hares and rabbits and Easter go back earlier in central Europe. Hares were associated with fertility and with the Virgin Mary, and sometimes appear in paintings of the Virgin and Christ Child, and also in illuminated manuscripts. Custom had it that the hare would bring a basket of brightly painted eggs for all the children who had been good, and these would be hidden around the house and garden for the children to find.
The event is anticipated to be a great success, thanks to the volunteers and donations received from businesses and local community members in the greater Gouverneur community. To donate candy or for more information, call the Gouverneur Recreation Department at 315-287-0524 or call 757-323-9974.