Pint-sized North Myrtle Beach egg hunter shows off advanced technique during annual Easter tradition

At just 21/2 years old, Kinsdan Cook of Concord, N.C., was a veteran of North Myrtle Beach’s annual Easter egg hunt.

So when the countdown was over Saturday at McLean Park, she hurried past the first spate of eggs on the baseball field, waiting to start filling her basket until she was beyond the cluster of her 2-and-under cohorts who mostly grabbed for the first brightly colored orbs they could reach.

As many as 1,000 children gathered with their parents and extended families for the event that marked its 33rd anniversary Saturday, one of several area hunts and other events that draw locals and out-of-towners in the Grand Strand’s first significant weekend of a new tourist season.

Besides the hunt in North Myrtle Beach, others were at Broadway at the Beach and at Surfside Beach’s Huckabee Complex. There were also several breakfasts with the Easter bunny as well as one Easter Bunny Brunch at the Children’s Museum of South Carolina. Brookgreen Gardens held an Eggstravaganza while there was a Park Palooza at Myrtle Beach State Park.

On Sunday, clusters of worshippers were expected at sunrise services along the beach where the rising sun would put an exclamation point on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the central tenant of Christianity and the reason for the weekend’s events.

Easter eggs may have originated as a representation of Jesus’ emergence from the tomb, according to history.com, which said that decorating them dates back at least to the 13th century.

The website said some believe that it was at one time forbidden to eat eggs during the Lenten season. People would paint and decorate them to mark the end of their fast and eat them on Easter in celebration.

History.com did not know when the first egg hunts began, but said some consider egg rolling — an annual egg roll debuted on the White House lawn in 1878 — as symbolic of the boulder rolling away from Jesus’ tomb.

Jeri Gore of Little River, who escorted her grandson, Jeremiah Lawerence, 3, at Saturday’s hunt, said she remembers Easter egg hunts from her childhood. Her father would hide eggs in the family’s backyard every Easter, and it took she and her siblings about an hour to find them all.

Such was not the case at McLean Park Saturday, as the 7,000 eggs scattered in five separate areas were claimed in just minutes and participants and their entourages soon queued along the park’s walkways to exchange the eggs for goody bags.

Greg Barnhill of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department said the city doesn’t put candy in the hunt’s plastic eggs because it reuses as many as it can from year to year.

He said the city held its first egg hunt to have a family-oriented event during a weekend that was at that time dominated by college spring breakers.

There were 50 to 100 kids for the first hunt, he recalled, and “For the size of the town, that was pretty good.”

He said the hunt has attracted about 1,000 kids each year for the last six to 10 years.

They arrived later than usual Saturday, perhaps waiting to see if rain would wash out this year’s event.

Those who had arrived earlier, like Kisdan and her family, waited patiently through a cloud-covered sky that loosed only stray drops in the half-hour before the 10 a.m. start and took the opportunity to claim favored spots just outside the orange tape that marked off the hunt areas, each reserved for a separate age group.

Kisdan’s 2-and-under group seemed more-carefully attired in Easter clothing than many of the older kids — Kisdan had a shiny white bow in her hair — and they had more collection baskets per capita than those around the areas set for other age groups.

The baseball field where Kisdan hunted was quickly swamped with toddlers, many of whom seemed unsure of what they were to do, watching as some parents scooped up eggs, tossing them into their children’s baskets.

One youngster stood on the back of his stroller as a handful of family members put a few eggs they had gathered on the ground and encouraged him to pick one up. He seemed content to just watch at first, but after much urging reached for a bright green egg and held it proudly aloft.

But with her experience, no doubt, Kisdan didn’t need any encouragement.

After she first hurried ahead of other pint-sized hunters toward the center of the baseball field’s outfield, she then doubled back when the crush rushed past her and calmly picked among the eggs they missed.

This story was originally published April 5, 2015 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Pint-sized North Myrtle Beach egg hunter shows off advanced technique during annual Easter tradition."