PORT ORCHARD — The impatient Easter egg hunters were poised, yet impatient, on this partly cloudy Saturday, ready to begin their scavage.
With the seconds slowly ticking by until noon when the red crossing tape would drop, these egg hunters — with ages in the single digits — had their empty baskets at the ready to collect those coveted brightly colored plastic orbs filled with chocolate treats.
“Three. Two. One. Go!”
The tape dropped and off went the inveterate hunters to collect the bounty that the generous Easter Bunny and his helpers had left behind by the thousands on the open spaces at South Kitsap Regional Park — as he has done for years around this time of year.
Annabelle Adams, 4, of Port Orchard was one of the hundreds of children who were part of the Fathoms O’ Fun Easter Egg Hunt. Annabelle proudly stuck her egg-filled basket under the reporter’s nose, who was able to confirm that, yes, there would be plenty of chocolate-y goodies at her house this weekend.
A couple of other children also were anxious to take home their collection of yummy eggs. Rosemarie Hill, 1 1/2, was mum about experiencing her first Easter egg hunt. Her fellow hunter from Port Orchard, 8-year-old Alison Otto, also elected not to share her inner thoughts about the “egg-spedition” but she did show off her very own captured egg for the camera.
Fathoms’ Easter Egg Hunt event chairwoman Sharron King said the turnout was on par with that of last year’s, with 570 kids signed up to participate in the South Kitsap traditional event.