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Warsaw's Parks and Recreation Department called off its annual Easter egg hunt for next year because of what is being called "ugly" behavior by parents and children.
"It's very frustrating," Denise Beno, the park department's activities director, said today. "I just don't know how to deal with it any more."
Beno said some parents pushed other adults and children, picked up Easter eggs for their children, and were "verbally abusive to my volunteers when they were asked to stay behind the lines and let the children do the hunting."
Children, who were supposed to have fun and enjoy the day, also got a little out of hand, Beno said, by pushing down other children, taking eggs from other kids and complaining about the prizes they won.
Approximately 500 people attended the 12th annual Community Wide Easter Egg Hunt Saturday at Center Lake; it was the third year the park department hosted the event, and, said Beno, the last.
"This past weekend is one of the most holy of Christian holidays, yet the ugliest of humanity was what was represented at the egg hunt," Beno wrote in a letter to the editor. "I was appalled at the lack of respect demonstrated Saturday. ... Although this activity is traditionally a fun, family event, this year it was a torment."
The Easter eggs were coded, and the children who found them could redeem them for small prizes donated by 35 Warsaw-area businesses, Beno said. Even then, many of the children complained that the prizes weren't bigger or more expensive.
Not all of the people participating were rude or abusive, Beno said.
"I realize that the majority of people participating were pleasant, kind and played by the rules," she said, "but as the old adage goes, 'A few rotten apples can spoil the whole bunch.' "
Other egg hunts in Warsaw were more controlled and had fewer problems with parents.
For example, Ace Hardware manager Harold Schapson said their egg hunt was contained in the garden center, and the gates were closed so only the kids could go into the search area.
Hardee's Easter egg hunt was changed into an egg handout since the ground was so wet, and the Easter Bunny simply gave the eggs to the kids who attended, said an organizer.
