By Cara Aungst
On Saturday, March 30, thousands of children will flock to Talleyrand Park for the Bellefonte Community Easter Egg Hunt. The free 15,000-egg extravaganza features games, refreshments, and a bounce house. All eggs are filled with candy, prizes or coupons, with some lucky eggs holding coupons for grand prizes like bikes.
The event brings together more than just families: over the past 15 years, it has banded together volunteers across the community to come together and create a memory-making day.
“It truly is a community event,” Mary McMurtrie, the egg hunt organizer, says. A lifelong Bellefonte resident, she started to organize the event when she and a friend saw a gap in the local calendar, which was filled with large-scale community fun for Halloween and Christmas, but not Easter. After her friend broke her leg, McMurtrie took over planning—reaching out to local clubs and organizations to ask if they wanted to combine their smaller egg hunts into one big hunt at Talleyrand Park.
“With only a few weeks to plan it, a few local clubs came together to donate some filled eggs and snacks,” she remembers. It quickly grew from there to include local clubs and organizations like Bellefonte VFW #1600, Bellefonte Elks Lodge #1094, and the Knights of Columbus. Fast forward to 2023, and the event, which is now part of Historic Bellefonte Inc., involved nearly 100 organizations that donated time and money to make it a reality.
>>> See upcoming egg hunts and more Easter events at statecollege.com/guide/easter/.
A Year of Planning
Planning for the 2024 egg hunt started shortly after the 2023 hunt happened. “Throughout the year, secret shoppers watch for sales or clearance items to be put in the Easter baskets or for special prizes,” McMurtrie says. Then, in December, clubs were contacted about participating again. In January, seniors at the Bellefonte Senior Center, Centre Care and Crestside Terrace, along with fire companies, clubs and volunteers at home, began filling the 15,000 plastic eggs. Two weeks before the event, prizes are organized, and over 300 Easter baskets filled. When it comes time to spread the eggs throughout the park, McMurtie says, “There is probably not a club in all of Bellefonte that’s not involved.”
Each participating organization, including local houses of worship, clubs, fire companies and businesses, is invited to set up an activity at the event. Over the years, those activities have varied, from obstacle courses to a soccer shoot to raffles and games.
Filling 15,000 Eggs
Logan Fire Company No. 1 is one of the organizations that helps make the event a reality.
“We could have cut a check and mailed it in, but we decided to jump right in,” volunteer Courtney Lueth remembers. “The Logans have two roles in the Bellefonte Easter Egg Hunt,” she says, “filling eggs and being present at the event.
“The fire company purchases candy [no chocolate, it’ll melt!] to fill 2,000 eggs, and we organize an evening for the members to gather at the station,” Lueth says. “We use the lounge at the station, turn on a movie or play some music and take a few hours to fill the plastic eggs with candy. It’s a chance for us to sit down, catch up with each other and bond as a ‘fire family.’ We’ve also hidden a ‘golden ticket’ in one of the eggs in years past and given away a fire prevention-themed Easter basket.”
On the day of the event, the Logan Fire Company brings a crew and a piece of fire apparatus out to Talleyrand Park, where they hand out fire prevention materials, show kids (and adults) the equipment and answer questions. “We love getting to see the members of our community in a positive light; keep in mind, our job is to respond to emergencies and help people on what can feel like the worst day of their lives, so if we can be involved in the community, we’re there.”
Terree Michel with Bellefonte Elks #1094 has been involved for the last three years. “My role has been to organize the stuffing of the plastic eggs at the Lodge, as well as creating baskets that are used for the prizes. We stuff over 2,000 eggs with candy that is purchased by the Lodge and also donated by the membership,” she says.
“The number of hours spent on the project can range from 30 to 100 hours, depending on how many volunteers we have. We also create baskets for prizes, filling them with toys, games, stuffed animals and candy,” she says.
Michel says it’s a wonderful way to involve Elks volunteers in the community. “This is a great volunteer event for our members, and we invite members to bring in their children and grandchildren to help with this event. It’s a great way to have the younger kids help with a community project.”
Ready, Set, Go!
Michel compares the day of the egg hunt to Christmas morning. “You spend months and hours preparing for the event, and in sixty seconds, it’s over!”
On the day of the event, children ages 12 and under are divided into age groups, with a designated area at the park dedicated to children with special needs. A DJ plays music in the gazebo and then the Easter Bunny makes a grand entrance on the back of a local firetruck.
Then the whistle blows … and the race is on. The 15,000 eggs that took weeks and hundreds of volunteer hours to fill will all be gathered in the next three minutes.
“Once that whistle blows, and the kids start gathering the eggs, you better be paying attention, or you could be run over!” Michel says.
The next few minutes are the memory makers.
“My personal favorite Bellefonte Easter Egg Hunt would be when my brother brought his wife and their two boys into town from the Midwest,” Lueth says. “They were completely blown away by the size of our egg hunt, considering the size of Bellefonte, and the boys were ecstatic to see so many eggs covering the lawn of the park. It made me so proud of our little town.”
“One year we had a young blind child in a wheelchair who needed to sit in the grass to feel for eggs to gather,” McMurtrie remembers. “The [high school] football team surrounded him so the other children could not take the eggs from him. This inspired us to develop an area for children with special needs.
“Another favorite memory I have is from the pandemic: our volunteers came up with a plan to have a drive-through egg distribution,” she says. “We had cars in line from Governors Park back to the high school for two hours.”
#LoveBFT
Friends and neighbors spend many hours pouring love into a community event that continues to grow and grow. And they say it’s worth every second.
“Giving back to the community is my why,” Michel says. “Once I retired, I wanted to join an organization that does community service, doing charitable work and helping others in our community. The Elks was that organization, and getting involved with the Easter egg hunt is just one of the community events the Elks helps with.
“The volunteer hours that are necessary to make this event great by all the organizations involved are incredible, and I believe we all do it for the same reason—for the kids, and for the community,” she adds. “Mary McMurtrie does an amazing job organizing this event, coordinating all the organizations and making it a success.”
Lueth agrees. “I credit my partner Kevin for something that I learned very early in my firefighting career: ‘You get out what you put in.’ I highly encourage everyone to give it a try and volunteer for something new this year. This community thrives on the people putting in the time, love and effort it takes to come together. The Bellefonte Easter Egg Hunt is just one of the events I love to see keeping folks coming back to Bellefonte. … We’ve earned our hashtag #LoveBFT.”
McMurtrie says seeing the community come together to create such a memorable day is reward enough for her. “It warms my heart seeing the excitement on all the children’s faces as well as the parents and grandparents that come out to celebrate Easter in Talleyrand Park. We hear it all the time—‘Bellefonte is such a great place to live, work, play and raise a family.’” T&G
Cara Aungst lives in Belleville with her husband and five kids, who are all taller than she is.
