BERGEN – Children in Bergen got to take part in an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday in Hickory Park, although it was not in the traditional format.

The event is an annual tradition in Bergen, in which children usually hunt for eggs by age group. 

This year, however, due to COVID-19, children stayed in their cars and parents drove by and the Easter Bunny (aka Tom Tieffel) and his helpers, Village of Bergen Mayor Anna Marie Barclay, Connie Tieffel, Anne Sapienza, and Jody Fisher and Sandy Partridge handed out bags of filled Easter eggs.

Kids got to see the Easter Bunny and then quickly checked to see if their bag contained a Golden Egg. If so, they were driven to the prize table to collect a special surprise.

The Easter Egg Hunt is sponsored by the Bergen Business and Civic Association.

Photos by Virginia Kropf.

Top photo: Easter Bunny, aka Tom Tieffel, waits by bags of prizes in Hickory Park for this year's drive-thru Easter Egg "hunt" in Bergen. 

Below, from left, Village of Bergen Mayor Anna Marie Barclay, Connie Tieffel, the Easter Bunny (aka Tom Tieffel), Anne Sapienza, and Jody Fisher and Sandy Partridge are all decked out and ready for the Easter Egg drive-thru event in Bergen’s Hickory Park on Saturday.

Above, a clutch of gleaming Golden Prize Eggs, each containing a special note inside.

Photos and information from Matt Landers:

The Kiwanis Club of Batavia is excited to offer a modified version of its annual Easter Egg Hunt for the community to come together and enjoy.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the typical Easter Egg Hunt could not be safely run, but the Kiwanis members couldn’t stand the thought of canceling the event outright for a second year in a row due to coronavirus.

So this year’s event takes one of the fun aspects of the annual event -- the coveted Golden Prize Egg -- and makes it the focus of the hunt.

Starting on Friday, March 19^th, there will be one Golden Prize Egg hidden each day in Centennial Park for the kids to look for. One egg will be hidden each day through March 31^st.

The eggs will be hidden at different times to allow for families with different schedules to walk the park looking for the eggs. Each egg will entitle a child to an Oliver’s Chocolate Bunny as with past years' winners.

There will be a note inside each egg with instructions on where to gather for a picture with the Easter Bunny and to collect the prize chocolate bunny.

Winners must bring this note with them to collect the prize chocolate bunny. There will be a limit of one Golden Prize Egg per family.

The Kiwanis Club is very happy to provide this safe and healthy activity for families to participate in over the course of two weeks.

We encourage the whole family to come out and spend time together in the park, but since this is an Easter Egg Hunt for kids, prizes will be restricted to kids 12 and under, just as in the past. That’s not saying a big brother or big sister can’t help though!

Happy Hunting!

Below, the bewhiskered Easter Bunny with some Golden Prize Eggs.

Below, Batavia Kiwanis Club members and their furry, big-footed pal with some Golden Prize Eggs.