Not a Great Year for Easter Egg Hunts in New England

Photo by Phil Romans on Flickr/Creative Commons

Scores of kids across New England scoured high school football fields, parks, and lawns this year in search of their candy-filled, polyurethane payday. But in at least two cases, Easter egg hunts got a tad out of hand in 2016.

Organizers of the Easter egg hunt at the visitors center of the Pez candy company in Orange, Connecticut had intended to split it across three fields and stagger the start times in an orderly fashion. Not so!

‘‘Everyone just rushed the field and took everything,’’ Pez general manger Shawn Peterson told WFSB-TV. Hundreds of hunters descended “like locusts,” in search of the more than 9,000 Easter eggs scattered across the fields. On Facebook, people who attended the event blamed “‘greedy parents” for ignoring the rules and spoiling the fun.

Though the event ended early, no injuries were reported.

“By the time I found my 4-year-old, he was hysterically crying,” Nicole Welch, of West Haven, told NECN.

“Somebody pushed me over and take my eggs and it’s very rude of them and they broke my bucket,” Vincent Welch said.

Meanwhile, in Proctor, Vermont, police were called to the Easter egg hunt at Wilson Castle, overbooked to the tune of more than 1,200 people, after receiving reports of  ‘‘multiple irate parents” Saturday.

Michael Cuthbertson, 34, of Newbury, Vermont, allegedly threatened police officers before he was chased, pepper-sprayed, and subdued. He was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.