WALDOBORO – The Waldoboro Fire Department hosted its annual Easter Egg Hunt Saturday morning, April 4, at the Waldoboro Fire Department. More than 125 children with parents in tow lined up to see the Easter Bunny arrive by fire truck before starting the hunt.

This year’s event was sponsored by the Waldoboro Fireman’s Association, Waldoboro Fire Department Auxillary and U.S. Airwaves of Waldoboro.  

Paul Smeltzer, Waldoboro Fire Chief, said they expected well more than 100 children to hunt for eggs.

“This is our fourth year doing this,” he said. “We have just under 3,000 eggs that we’ve filled with candy.”

Normally held on the front lawn of the fire station’s property, Smeltzer said that because of the weather this year, they were going to have to do things a little differently.

“This year we’ve hidden them around inside the fire station,” he said. “We don’t want to lose any kids in the mud out front. We thought about using all white eggs and hide them in the snow to challenge the kids, but we’re going with the multi-colored plastic ones and moving them inside.”

“If you ask the guys they’ll say it was oner of my crazy ideas,” he said. “The community has been so supportive of everything we do. This is just something we like to do to return to the community for their support. And we love doing stuff for the kids.”

Easter coincides with the spring equinox. The Germans celebrated Easter sunrise and the change of the seasons, and applying the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ.

The Easter egg tradition was brought to the U.S. the 1800s by German immigrants. The Easter Bunny has evolved over 200 years to become the most commercially recognized symbol of Easter.