Egg hunt makes a splash
WEEKI WACHEE –
The water at Weeki Wachee Springs shimmered with thousands of multicolored sparkles Saturday but it wasn’t because of the mermaids — not entirely.
“We probably have over 6,000 eggs,” said Robyn Anderson, assistant park manager at Weeki Wachee Springs. “They float in the water, and that’s our spin on the egg hunt.”
The Easter egg hunt, called the “wacky water egg hunt,” has been held at the park for the last 24 years, Anderson said, and it brought dozens of parents and their children out this year to collect the eggs into buckets to be traded later for a commodity that made the Easter Bunny famous — sugar.
“The kids have to get in the water, and it’s cute to see the kids with their little baskets, and they get to trade them in at the end for candy,” Anderson said. “All the parents are, ‘Please, don’t give them any more sugar!’”
Two mermaids, Samantha Maywell and Tara Spaid, attended the 0-3 age group egg hunt Saturday morning, beached in pink and blue: colors signifying new beginnings in the Easter tradition.
“Usually we hide eggs under her tail,” Anderson said. “The kids are more intrigued with the mermaid than the eggs at times.”
The turnout for the Easter egg hunt has been pretty good in past years, Anderson said, and with weather as nice as it was on Saturday, the park anticipated plenty of residents and tourists to flock to the water.
“The kids love it, and it’s a safe way to have an egg hunt, and Weeki Wachee Springs is always doing something unique,” Anderson said. “Where else in Florida can you have a wacky water egg hunt?”
Easter wasn’t the only tradition celebrated recently at Weeki Wachee Springs.
This past July, the park held its 65th annual mermaid reunion with about 200 former mermaids attending.
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