Kids explore at Phinizy Swamp’s Alligator Egg Hunt

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - It’s egg-hunting season.

We don’t mean real eggs but pink, purple, and yellow ones. On Tuesday, the Phinizy Center held an Alligator Egg Hunt.

It’s a fun activity for kids leading up to Easter. We stopped by, and organizers say this is the biggest one to date.

Ally the Alligator has laid more than 1,000 eggs.

Now it’s up to these kids to find them.

Kim Dillard is the park and volunteer director. She said, “We are practicing the catch-and-release program. They’re going to go get all my alligator eggs, bring them back to me, and of course, we give them a bonus bag of treats for doing that.”

A record number of kids were there for the egg hunt.

“We started where it was just 60 toddlers, and it’s grown into where we do 100 toddlers in the morning, and there are 100 toddlers in the afternoon,” said Dillard.

Meg likes bringing the kids to events like this.

“We love it. We love coming here,” she said. “We love supporting this place, and the kids look forward to it. My older son did it for years, and now she looks forward to it every year.’

The kids are moving quickly trying to pick up as many eggs as possible. But to tell you the truth these are not real alligator eggs.

Dillard said: “We encourage people not to mess with any real alligator eggs.”

But even if the eggs aren’t real, the egg hunt is. And these kids and their families are enjoying it. Dillard says they have another toddler-themed event coming up called “Puddle Ducks.”

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