Let’s do the math.
There were 20,000 eggs for the taking Saturday at the Orland Park Lucky Egg Hunt, scattered across four baseball fields at Centennial Park,
There were only 150 “lucky” eggs that featured a ticket redeemable for a prize at the concession stand.
A mathematician will calculate the odds are a 1 out of 133.33 chance to earn a special prize. And there were an estimated 2,000 egg hunters armed with baskets of all types, including a few using pumpkin Halloween buckets.
One of 133.33? Emma Loess defied those odds big-time.
The 6-year-old from Tinley Park collected just four eggs during the brief hunt.
“She got more excited about running onto the field with the kids than she did picking up eggs,” Emma’s mother, Robin, said. “So, she only got four eggs.”
Emma may have only collected four, but two of them were lucky eggs — a 1-out-of-2 ratio.
She received a basket chock filled with candy and toys as one prize and a package featuring sunglasses and a kite as another.
When asked if they will play the lottery later in the day, Robin smiled and said, “Maybe I should.”
This was the second weekend in a row the Loess family participated in an egg hunt. Emma was able to grab many more eggs during an event hosted by the Tinley Park-Park District at Freedom Park a week earlier.
“After doing the Tinley hunt, a friend told us about this one and said it was fun and had lots of people,” Robin said. “We decided to give it a try and she loved it.”
Even though Emma, a kindergartner at the Helen Keller Elementary School in Tinley Park, won the big bounty, her favorite part was not the hunt itself.
“It’s the Easter Bunny,” she said.
Of course.
It appeared everyone wanted to have a chance to meet and greet and have photos taken with the Easter Bunny.
The bunny took up residence in a large chair after the hunt and a long line formed. At one time, there were more than 200 people, and the wait was long for some.
Emery Pawlak, 2, of Tinley Park and her parents, Dave and Jori, said they waited a half hour, but her smile when she posed with the bunny showed it wasn’t time wasted.
“She loves the Easter Bunny, so, yeah, it was worth it,” Jori said. “Last year, she posed with the bunny at the mall and last year, it was like ‘OK, whatever.’
“But this year, she really warmed up to him. We went to an egg hunt on a farm and met him and she was really excited to see him here.”
Dave counted up her haul and Emery ended up with 26 eggs.
“Not bad for a 2-year-old,” Jori said.
Dave appreciated the setup.
“I like the way they divided it by ages,” he said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Madelyn Meyers, also of Tinley Park, celebrated her 4th birthday at the egg hunt.
“We were here last year and there were a lot of people,” Nicole Meyers, Madelyn’s mother, said. “We came back this year and it’s really a nice day.”
The temperature was in the high 50s and it was sunny. Outgoing Mayor Keith Pekau told the crowd it was the best day in his eight years of coming to the egg hunt as mayor.
The weather pleased Ray Piattoni, Orland Park’s director of recreation and parks, as it brought a big turnout for one of his favorite events. He said the estimated crowd of 2,000 was the best attendance he has seen.
“I love the Easter egg hunt,” Piattoni said. “It’s a fun event and it’s a great way to celebrate the holiday. We set up the fields and it looks amazing with 5,000 eggs on each field.
“The kids have a great time. There are so many eggs and everyone is a winner. They all get a lot of them. This is really a fun family event.”
Piattoni has seen a lot during past egg hunts, but he was surprised to hear about Loess’s good fortune.
“This is called the Lucky Egg Hunt and she was definitely lucky,” he said.
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
