photo by: Scott Meyer
ETU’s popular Easter egg hunt, run by the Delta Chi Rho fraternity and sponsored by local Pinebox businesses, occured this past Sunday. Each year since its first in 1996, ETU students invite their families and other members of the community onto the campus to celebrate the coming of spring. Delta Chi Rho organizes and runs several food tents, activities areas, fiction and poetry readings by ETU alumni and current students and of course: hides all of the eggs around campus.
Admission charged was $10 for adults, and $2 for kids. Food was free with admission thanks to generous donations from El Perro Loco, The Pizza Barn and other local restaurants. Patrons were encouraged to fill donation boxes located in several tents with all proceeds collected being sent to the town of Ninevah to help out with thier recent fires. According to Davis Sherlton, Delta Chi Rho President and chief organizer, “The city of Pinebox and students of ETU really came out to support Ninevah today. Between ticket sales and donations, we’re estimating that we’ll be able to send along nearly $20,000 to those who have recently lost their homes and businesses.”
The turn out this year was an unprecedented 2500 people, with security having to halt the admission of additional participants because of city permit laws. When asked about what made this year’s hunt such a success, Sherlton commented, “This year’s lucky egg has five years behind it. Everyone wants a chance to turn it in for the prizes.”
According to tradition, amongst the hundreds of eggs hidden around campus two are especially important. The lucky egg, a brightly colored and elaborately decorated red Easter egg, entitles the finder to an array of gifts from the campus and city of Pinebox. If the lucky egg isn’t found within two hours of the event’s commencement all prizes are held over until the next year. For five years, the lucky egg has remained unfound. Prizes that had initally started as twenty dollar gift certificates, quickly grew as local businesses competed to have the most impressive awards.
The other egg of significance is a solid black egg decorated in silver filigree. While event organizers deny its very existence, for weeks before the egg hunt students at ETU spread rumors regarding where it might be found, and what problems will arise for the one who stumbles upon it. When asked, Sherlton remarked, “Black 13 is nothing more than a story told by students who want to make the egg hunt something sinister. Of course there’s no bad luck egg. The stories are louder because this is the 13th hunt we’ve had. But hey, if it helps out those less fortunate who am I to stop them?”
Bad luck aside, this year the lucky egg was discovered by ETU student Maria Esperando who collected a one semester scholarship, thirty meal tickets from The Pizza Barn, and a $5,000 credit toward the purchase of a new vehicle from the Lithia Auto Center amongst other prizes. Esperando could not be reached for comment, but the Report has been informed that Esperando has happily accepted her awards.
Black 13 was not recovered.
A work crew unearthed skeletal remains while digging a trench for a new water line servicing ETU on Monday, bringing construction to a halt while police investigated. It was determined later in the afternoon that the skeleton from the nineteenth century and not related to any current investigation.
