County holds Easter egg hunts
CRANBERRY TWP — Easter Sunday isn’t for another week, but most places in Butler County couldn’t wait to put on an Easter egg hunt for the children, and Cranberry Township was no exception.
The township held its annual Easter egg hunt on Sunday morning, April 13, at the municipal building on Rochester Road.
The actual hunting took place outdoors on the Armstrong Great Lawn, the Cranberry Township Community Chest’s 2024 Project of the Year, which will celebrate its official grand opening on Friday, May 16.
The first hour of the Easter egg hunt was a sensory hour, set aside for children who may be especially sensitive to loud and stimulatory environments.
“We provided them activities and opportunities to go places where it was geared more toward folks who may have sensory responses,” said Dave Blair, director of parks and recreation for Cranberry Township. “We gave them a separate Easter egg hunt out on the front lawn as well.”
The municipal building hosted other activities, such as egg painting, balloon animals and an opportunity for children to get their picture taken with the Easter Bunny.
Cranberry Township didn’t have the only egg hunt this weekend.
Winfield Township held an Easter egg hunt of its own on Saturday, April 12, at its community park, located just outside of its municipal building on Brose Road. The Easter egg hunt served a secondary purpose, as visitors brought nonperishable food items to donate to the food pantry of nearby Cabot Church.
That same day, the Butler Area School District hosted the Best Buddies Eggstravaganza, which combined an Easter egg hunt for children 10 and under with a 5K race and a 1-mile run.
Jim Haughey, 54, of Butler, finished with the best overall time in the 5K race, with a time of 20:17.88 — an average of 6:33 minutes per mile. The best women’s time was run by 38-year-old Melissa Zundel, of Butler, who ran a 24:38.66.
Mars Area High School also hosted a Spring “Eggs’travaganza” featuring a range of Easter-themed activities for children.
