Dozens of Philadelphia families visit Franklin Square's 'Hop-A-Trail' free Easter egg hunt

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Dozens of families took advantage of a free Easter egg hunt in Franklin Square Saturday, where instead of searching for eggs, kids got to watch them slide down a chute into their buckets.

For 7-year-old CJ Meizinger, collecting his Easter eggs in the candy chute may have been just as much fun as actually eating them.

"M&M's!" he exclaimed after cracking open one of the eggs in his bucket.

His family has made a tradition out of coming to the Hop-A-Long Trail in Franklin Square every Easter.

"I like them because that was the first time when COVID happened, he was still able to Easter egg hunt because they have the chute," said Katie Meizinger, his mom.

While the idea came from the pandemic, the candy chute became so popular that the city and Historic Philadelphia, the event's organizer, decided to keep it around.

"It's not your traditional Easter egg hunt, but kids still really really love the idea of watching the eggs drop into their baskets," said Lesly Attarian, the vice president at Historic Philadelphia.

She added it's not only a safer way to give out candy, but it's also in the perfect place to serve a lot of neighborhoods.

"Franklin Square is actually the only public green space serving Chinatown, Callowhill, and Old City neighborhoods, so it's really important we're able to give back to the community with this free event," she said.

"Wow, it's a pink one!" Fengmei Wu said as an egg dropped into her daughter's basket.

She said for her family, this Easter egg hunt was the perfect find.

"Oh, this is a great idea. It's really safe. The kids don't have to go everywhere to find them and I think it's really fun they do that, so the kids can catch it," she said.

After completing the trail, a lot of these families stuck around for an afternoon in the park, a perfect place to eat the candy and burn off the sugar rush.