The Babylon Village Chamber of Commerce is adding new elements to its annual Easter egg hunt, set for the afternoon of the Easter Parade on Saturday, April 19, with the goal of attracting more visitors to local businesses and enhancing the community experience.
Lineup begins at 9:45 a.m. at Babylon's Argyle Park playground, with the parade kicking off at 10 a.m. The parade is organized by the Village of Babylon, with the mayor leading activities, but the afternoon is managed by the Chamber, which has designed the egg hunt to boost business while making kids smile, according to Chamber President Tom Vitale.
In the afternoon, between 1 and 3 p.m., there will be a bring-your-own-camera photo opportunity with the Easter Bunny in front of Fitness Incentive on Deer Park Avenue.
A registration booth for families to sign up for the egg hunt will also be located there, with the hunt beginning at 1 p.m., Vitale said.
“Every year we want to do something different for the actual Easter egg hunt, so this year we’re going to do a business story walk,” Vitale told South Shore Press.
Vitale, who is also the local library director, explained, “The librarians and the Children’s Department had selected a couple of spring Easter-time books that have all been blown up and laminated. Each business that’s participating will get a page of the book to display in their window or on an easel, and the map we give out for the Easter egg hunt will be in page order.”
To secure treats from the various businesses, kids will need to read the page of the book displayed at the store.
“We thought it would be a nice way to increase literacy as well as get a treat for Easter time,” he said.
In addition, participants will have a chance to win a giant basket with goods from each of the businesses involved in the hunt. Participants can enter multiple times—once for every receipt they can produce from a local business.
The first 500 registrants will also receive a tote bag for their treats, courtesy of East Neck Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in West Babylon, one of the event sponsors.
“It brings people into the village’s downtown to shop and eat the day before Easter. Saturday is a bustling retail day as well as a restaurant day, so this is a great time for shops and restaurants to offer specific deals to get people to come in,” Vitale said.
For more details, visit the Chamber website at https://babylonchamber.com.