Easter Egg Hunts

-find an Easter Egg Hunt, Parades, and other egg-stravaganzas

When is Easter? Soon! The date for 2008 is early, Sunday March 23.

In recent years, family events for Easter have multiplied like bunnies: Below is a selection of Easter Egg Hunts, Parades, and more.

Check also at local zoos, aquariums, or children's museums for special events.

Easter Egg Hunts, Easter Parades, & More

(please check dates carefully, in case web sites haven't updated for 2008!)

• New York City: Easter Parade
  Easter Sunday, March 23 2008.
  As Bing Crosby warbled decades ago, "Put on your Easter Bonnet" and come to Fifth Avenue for this Easter Parade: no floats or marching bands; just stroll around, admiring the bonnets (and costumed pets.)

• New York Easter Egg Hunt Eggstravaganza in Central Park
  Saturday before Easter, 11:00am to 3:00pm (check 2008 times)
  Enter the Park at 72nd street for this free annual event in the Lower 40 Acres, from Bethesda fountain south. You'll find the city's largest egg hunt, an egg roll race (- spoon a wooden egg across the lawn), and family fun such as Build Your Own Basket, bunnies at the petting zoo, puppet show, face painting, and performances at the bandshell by Broadway.

• Lots more New York events- at New York City for Visitors, such as "Eggstreme Weekend at the Bronx Zoo"

• Miami Metrozoo: The Great Metrozoo Egg Safari
  Annual Event, the Saturday before Easter Sunday
  (Check 2008 date.) For children 12 and under, there'll be continuous egg safaris, plus face painting, crafts, a bounce house, rock climbing, Easter Bunny and more. Free with regular admission; bring your own basket.

• Richmond, Virginia: Easter Parade
  (site not updated for 2008 yet) Easter Sunday, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m.
  Over 45,000 people enjoy this free street festival on historic Monument Avenue. The fun includes music (bands of many styles), roving performers, jugglers, clowns, face painters, great food, Easter Bonnet contest.

• Asheville, NC: Easter Egg Hunt
  Easter Sunday; three hunts, at different times
  One of the largest Easter Egg Hunts in the US happens at the Biltmore Estate, where thousands of kids ages two to nine scramble across the front lawn finding thousands of eggs. Registration starts two hours before each Easter egg hunt. The day's fun includes magic shows and other children's entertainment, Easter Rabbit; Saturday has entertainment and the Rabbit too.

• Washington DC: African-American Family Celebration, at the National Zoo
  Easter Monday (check 2008 date)
  This annual free family celebration typically includes Easter Egg Hunts, hands-on fun, and special performances such as African drumming, children's dance troupes, gospel music, and storytelling. This tradition of Easter Monday at the Zoo dates back to 1889, when the Zoo first opened.

• Washington, DC: White House Easter Egg Roll
• Easter Monday
  Rolling hard-boiled colored eggs down the lawns at the White House hasto be an event with interesting history, and in fact this tradition goes back at least 125 years. Originally, families gathered on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, but the effects of so many picnicking, egg-rolling children caused Congress to forbid the grounds to be used as a playground. Fortunately, in 1878 President Rutherford was persuaded to shift the fun to the White House lawn. (Read more about this history.) The Egg Roll is now the largest public event at the White House, attracting some 40,000 visitors.

  About.com's Guide for DC/ Capital Region has details about the White House Easter Egg Roll, plus cool photos. 2008 date is March 24, 8:00 2:00 pm. Kids of all ages are welcome to attend, as long as at least one child is seven years old or under. The event is free; you'll need timed passes, though, distributed by the National Park Service.

New Orleans Easter Parade:
Easter Sunday
At least two parades roll in the city's historic French Quarter Parade. Call 504-888-7608 for info about Chris Owens' Annual French Quarter Easter Parade.

• Fremont, Ohio: Hayes Easter Egg Roll
  Saturday, March 22 2008 2 pm. - 3:30 p.m.
  The White House traditional Egg Roll (noted above) was started by President Rutherford B. Hayes; and hundreds of miles from DC, the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center stages an Easter Egg Roll of its own, at the historic Hayes Home. The event is for ages 3-10; admission is three colored hard-boiled colored eggs for use in contests and games. (Click on the web site's Calendar for details.)

• Easter Bunny Express(es): quite a few tourist railroads run special train rides with Bunny --and treats-- on board. Check some choices in NC, NJ, TV; and one in Ohio that rides to an Easter Egg Hunt.

See more: Easter Egg hunts at zoos in Utah and Oregon, on ski slopes in Colorado, on a California railroad...

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