Eggciting Egg Hunt Held at Carlmont Village Shopping Center

The was filled with the laughter and giggles from hundreds of eager egg hunters on Saturday morning as the children searched for hundreds of pastel plastic eggs hidden among azaleas, maples, and fruit trees.

With the temperature in the high 50s and sunny skies, it was a near perfect day for the kids and their parents to attend the annual Easter egg hunt at .

“We just wanted to come out for a nice day at the nursery,” said Belmont resident Dana Kern, who was at the egg hunt with her two children.

“It’s a fun Easter egg hunt. My daughter’s first one,” Kern said.

The egg hunt was divided into four different age groups. The first egg hunt, for children 2 and under, was held at 10 a.m. There were also egg hunts for children 2-4 and 5-6. The last egg hunt, held at noon, was for children ages 7-9.

Givion Grivas said he and family members were driving past the Carlmont Village Shopping Center when they spotted the bouncy houses in the parking lot next to Jamba Juice and decided to join the fun.

It was the first time Grivas’s family had attended the egg hunt.

“They’re enjoying it,” Grivas said of the children.

Linda Tomasello of said the egg hunt draws close to 500 children and their families each year.

As President of the Carlmont Merchants Association, Tomasello has helped with the egg hunt for the past 10 years.

While Tomasello and several United Studios of Self Defense students greeted families and supervised the bouncy houses, the studio’s “Kung Fu Panda” shook hands and took pictures with children.  

Lenore Griffin, who has been helping with the egg hunt for close to 10 years, said there were more than 1,600 eggs for the egg hunt. More than 400 eggs were hidden throughout the nursery for each of the four different egg hunts.

Having experienced egg hunts with less than perfect weather, Griffin said it was nice to see so many people come out for this year’s egg hunt.

“It’s really fun when the weather is nice like it is today,” Griffin said.  

While the egg hunt saw lots of new faces, there are those who have been coming to the egg hunt for years. Among them was Dominic Butera.

Butera was at the egg hunt with his wife and their daughter. Having grown up in Belmont and attended egg hunts as a child, he said coming is almost a family tradition.

“There’s good camaraderie. We come with friends. We love it,” Butera said.