Easter baskets didn’t stay empty long Saturday as hundreds of children rushed the downtown area in Pembroke to gather as many brightly colored eggs as possible during the Grand Easter Celebration in Pembroke.
More than 3,000 eggs were ready for the taking during the event, which was co-sponsored by the city of Pembroke and Pembroke United Methodist Church, according to Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Sharroll Fanslau.
“We’ve had a good turnout and it’s a beautiful day,” Fanslau said. “I think everybody enjoyed it and the kids finding prizes in the eggs made things much better.”
Ethan Webb, 4, son of Stephanie Webb and Adam Webb, got his face painted at the event. Stephanie Webb said he had been excited about the event for a while.
“He has been very excited,” she said. “He has asked about the Easter bunny coming for the last two weeks. I told him this morning we were going for an Easter egg hunt and he jumped out of bed — he’s very excited.”
Also excited was Tarrez Simmons, 6, who came from Black Creek with his mother Sabrina Simmons.
“He woke up at 7 a.m. very excited about the Easter egg hunt — he wants to win a basket,” Simmons said as she tied a balloon to his Easter basket.  
She added Tarrez was also looking forward to a sack race and getting his face painted.
Madison Kennedy, 8, also got her face painted while waiting on the egg hunt to begin.
“I saw the flier and saw it on Facebook, and I always try to bring her when they have stuff here,” said her aunt, Pam Miller. “She is really looking forward to hunting eggs, although she likes the face painting, too.”
Mayor Mary Warnell thought the partnership with Pembroke United Methodist Church was a “nice joint venture.”
“We’re really appreciative of the hard work the church put in in partnering with us this year,” Fanslau added. “They are very hard workers and I’m very grateful they came out to help. Overall it’s a success and we just hope it gets bigger and keeps growing.”