They’Re Good Eggs Post Falls Firefighters, Volunteers Decorate Thousands Of Eggs For Sunday’S Hunt

Two days ago, firefighters expected to boil and dye about 5,000 eggs for their annual Easter hunt. By Wednesday afternoon, the number was up to 7,000 eggs.

“I don’t know how I did this, but I did,” said Mindy Hedge, a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician, about heading up the service project.

After being cooked in large pots at the Post Falls Community Center Wednesday, the first batch of donated eggs cooled. Then they were colored in large pans of green, blue, purple and pink dye by firefighters and volunteers.

Last year more than 2,000 kids joined in on the hunt at Q’Emiln Riverside Park, said Tim Bradley, president of the Post Falls Volunteer Firefighter Association.

Post Falls firefighters have hosted the city’s Easter egg hunt for 31 years. But this year is a first for the department because it asked the community to help cook and decorate eggs for the first time, Bradley said.

Bradley figures it will take about three days to boil, dry, color and store all 7,000 eggs - about 1,080 eggs per hour. “I’m a bit old-fashioned,” said Bradley, who remembers looking for real eggs as a child. Any other Easter egg hunt in the area this year will have plastic eggs, “which are kind of impersonal,” he said.

The feat will only be accomplished by the help of volunteers, Bradley said.

The Senior Center volunteered its facility to cook and dye the eggs, Super 1 Foods will refrigerate all the eggs until Sunday and the Lucky Clover 4-H Club took 120 dozen eggs to cook and decorate.

The event is organized each year by about a half a dozen people, Hedge said. But all 42 volunteers and 14 paid firefighters are required to donate some time to the event.

While the firefighters spend time this weekend preparing the eggs and working at the Easter egg hunt, most of them will still be working, Bradley said.

“When we do these service things, we’re still on duty,” Bradley said.

The eggs will be thoroughly cooked and safely stored, so they will be safe to eat after the hunt.

This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO Egg hunt

The firefighters’ Easter egg hunt will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at Q’Emiln Riverside Park.