Kids swarm Town Square in search of Easter eggs

By Kyle B. Hansen

Saturday, April 23, 2011 | 6:52 p.m.

The Easter Bunny came to Town Square a day early and left behind thousands of colored eggs for hundreds of kids to enjoy.

Actually, the eggs were empty, but the children could trade them in for candy, which came from Sam’s Club by the pallet.

It was the annual Hop & Shop event at Town Square, with egg hunts starting every half hour from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“You get to pick up a lot of eggs,” said 7-year-old Taylor Kingham, while anxiously watching younger kids gather eggs as she waited for her age group’s turn.

Her parents, however, weren’t too thrilled about the long lines and the fact that age-separated hunts meant they had to wait more than four hours for all three of their girls to get a turn gathering eggs.

“I think they were excited, but they were a little underwhelmed when they realized how long they had to wait,” Christine Kingham said of her girls.

But the girls seemed happy with the other activities while they waited.

Three-year-old Lauren said her favorite part was seeing the real bunnies available for adoption from the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

In addition to the rabbits and eggs, there was face painting, games and lots of vendors to visit.

“My highlight was seeing her climb up the wall,” said Alexa Flowers, shortly after her 4-year-old stepdaughter got to the top of a climbing wall and rang a loud siren.

It was the newly formed family’s first Easter activity together, she said. “We’re kind of starting our traditions,” Flowers said.

Jennifer Albolote is from New York but was visiting Las Vegas for the weekend with her family. She and her sister looked up family friendly things to do online and discovered the event.

Unfortunately, they got in line too late for her 7-year-old daughter, Caitlin Clark, to hunt for eggs, “But she enjoyed the vendors giving away candy and cotton candy and cakes, so that made up for it,” Albolote said.

The family was also impressed with the weather, much better than the rain back home, Albolote said.

“It really is lovely here,” she said. “This is an extra special Easter for us. This is really nice.”