‘Sp-EGG-tacular’ egg hunt to return to N. Merrick

Last year, North Merrick couple Jackie and Will Luciani decided to host an outdoor Easter egg hunt, in attempts to bring the community together at a safe event, coming out of the first winter of the coronavirus pandemic. Having had great success, the egg hunt will return to Fraser Park this year on April 9, with a couple of fun surprises.

“Last year, we were just coming out that first winter of the pandemic, and things were getting much better,” Will told the Herald. “Just for our neighbors on our block, we put together a small egg hunt, on a Saturday morning in Fraser Park.”

At the egg hunt, other families were there enjoying the park, Will explained, so they invited them to join in on the fun. “The Easter Bunny came, and kids went crazy for that,” he added. “There was so much joy to see the kids being kids. It felt like a piece of normalcy again.”

When Covid-19 cases surged again during the most recent winter, the Luciani’s decided to host another egg hunt.

“More people are comfortable with bigger events now, so we thought why not invite more people from the community,” Will said. “We are not going to put a limit on it — it just continued to grow and grow into something bigger than we initially expected.”

At this year’s event, Jackie said there will be balloon artists and face painting, which they did not have last year. “As things started to get bigger and bigger, we wanted to provide some additional entertainment,” she explained. “If the egg hunt goes quickly, and if people are coming out, I wanted to keep them there for a little longer.”

Inside the eggs will be mostly small toys, they said, because they didn’t want to leave chocolate or candies inside an egg in case it was not collected during the hunt. They received a permit from the Town of Hempstead to again host this event.

Thus far, Jackie said, the response from the community has been great. News about the event is spreading mostly word of mouth. Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church included the news in their church bulletin, and as the event gets closer, they may ask local businesses to hang their flyer up, she added.

The event will be free of charge to those who attend, but the Luciani’s will be collecting donations for the Bellmore-Merrick Community Cupboard, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s food pantry that serves underprivileged families within the district.

“It’s a good cause to support — the pandemic was really difficult for a lot of people,” Will said. “We wanted to do something to hopefully help however we can.”

“People were like, ‘This is great, can we pay you?’” Jackie added. “We are not looking for that —  we thought it would be best to give back to the community in some way.”

The egg hunt will take place rain or shine, at 11 a.m. at Fraser Park which is located on 1393 Fraser Avenue, North Merrick, NY. Egg hunt goers are encouraged to bring their baskets, and to be ready for another special appearance by the Easter Bunny.