Oh, grow up! Kids attending the Pez Museum’s free Easter egg hunt on Saturday, March 26, in Orange, Connecticut, were largely disappointed by the event — which was ruined by some pushy parents.
According to NBC Connecticut, the annual event drew thousands of participants and featured nearly 10,000 eggs hidden across three fields. But the happy celebration turned into a scene of chaos when parents ignored the Pez employees’ rules and regulations and bum-rushed the field.
“We tried to say, ‘Hey, this is supposed to start at a directed time that we’ve posted. Let’s wait, we’ll give a whistle, we’ll give the signal to start this’ — and that lasted about a minute,” Pez general manager Shawn Peterson told the local station.
The hunt, which was supposed to take place in three waves separated by age groups, soon descended into a free-for-all, with some children getting pushed and even injured.
“They were like locusts,” Peterson said. “They descended and left.”
Nicole Welch, a parent who witnessed the scene firsthand, told NBC Connecticut that “by the time I found my 4-year-old, he was hysterically crying.”
Her son Vincent added: “Somebody pushed me over and take my eggs and it’s very rude of them and they broke my bucket.”
“We’ve been there quite a few times before, but never have seen a crowd like that for any of their events,” Milford resident Nicole Simmons told the Hartford Courant.
“Even in the few minutes we were there you could see the crowd of people, almost like a swarm, covering the field and just everywhere, with no disregard that there were other people, children and cars around them.”
The candy company took to Facebook to issue an apology to the community for the turn of events.
“Due to the actions of a few, the good intent quickly turned into a mess,” the note reads. “I would like to sincerely apologize to each of our guests.… We only wanted to do good for the local community.”
