Whooping and hollering, the 8- and 9-year-olds descended on their share of the 100,000 plastic eggs scattered throughout Coolidge Park.
"It was war," recounted 9-year-old Tyler Rieckhoff.
In a matter of minutes, hundreds of kids had snatched up the eggs filled with candy, toys and tickets for larger prizes, while parents and older siblings shouted encouragement from the sidelines. Colorful woven baskets, plastic buckets and grocery bags overflowed with pastel-colored loot.
Five year-old Lucy Hemphill was disappointed with her sizable haul, but when asked how long her candy would last, she paused thoughtfully.
"Fifty hours. ... Fifty hours and one day," she decided.
Prizes, which included tickets for larger items such as bubble wands, tricycles and DVD players, were provided by Stuart Heights Baptist Church as part of its fourth annual Easter at Coolidge celebration.
Eight-year-old participant Katherine Balino was especially excited to find eggs containing Silly Bandz and temporary tattoos. She estimated her final egg count to be somewhere in the hundreds.
All told, it took nearly 660 volunteers to organize the egg hunt, church service, face painting, family photos and food at the event, said children's minister Roger Russell, who officiated two rounds of egg hunts for five divisions of kids.
He said that after several years of trial and error, Stuart Heights Baptist has learned to avoid some of the pitfalls that have caused other hunts nationwide to shut down.
In its first year, children who stooped to retrieve eggs close to the starting line were knocked down by others behind them. This year, volunteers placed eggs at the end of the open fields, then dumped crates of eggs behind the charging kids running out to claim the ones farther away.
Ten year-old May Haniszewski overheard volunteers discussing this strategy before the hunt began and planned accordingly. She waited calmly while other kids raced into the fray, ready to pounce when the new batches were dumped close by.
Other kids in the older divisions trailed volunteers, waiting for them to scatter more eggs.
"It was really crazy," said May's friend Anna Polk, also 10.
"Hectic," May added.
Russell said volunteers prayed for a safe egg hunt before they began and laughingly noted that he made a personal appeal for calm parents.
His prayers were answered, though some parents in the 2-and-under division weren't above running out to the egg fields despite Russell's pleas that they walk.
The only shenanigans of the morning came from a group of 10- and 11-year-olds who pelted helpers with emptied eggs between rounds. The good-natured volunteers playfully returned fire.
One way or another, most families returned their eggs after harvesting the prizes, and Russell's already planning how to fill even more for next Easter.