The first Saturday in April at Butler Park was busy with kids searching for Easter eggs, candy, prizes and visiting with the Easter Bunny. 

Snow still covered most of the ground but the sun and the warmer weather brought families out to enjoy the annual Cottonwood Heights Easter Egg hunt. 

The balloon artist was quite popular as he kept busy bending the balloons into somewhat recognizable animal shapes and trying to keep up with the demands from the crowd of children gathered around him.

The children were arranged in groups according to their age to start the egg hunt. Many children brought Easter baskets with them to collect as many eggs as they could find.

The Unified Fire Authority was on hand with their shiny tiller truck and sounded the siren at 10 a.m. which was the official start of the egg hunt.

Ryan from Taylorsville was one of the younger participants who came out to enjoy the festivities. “We wanted to check out the event. Ryan is 18 months old and he got one egg and lots of candy,” said Ryan’s mom.

Cottonwood Heights residents Rob, Ally and their daughter Madison were old pros since they attended last year’s Easter egg hunt. Decked out in pink and looking quite stylish in her sunglasses, 2 ½-year-old Madison enjoyed the goodies she collected. “Madison found eggs and candy. She also got a purple bird balloon,” said Ally.

Craig was with his almost 2-year-old son John. Craig said, “We live in Sandy and we came to the same event last year. John found eggs and he got a balloon too.”

Two girls with a frog and a rabbit toy were done with the fun and ready to go. “Chloe and Milla are just 2 years old and are from Holladay and Millcreek. This was their first time coming to this event,” one of the girl’s mothers said. 

Firefighters from Unified Fire Authority station No. 110 on Fort Union Boulevard and 17th East brought their tractor drawn aerial fire truck. Firefighters Kurt Stevenson, Juan Delgado and Darren Park posed for photos with the truck and many of the kids at the event.

“This is called a tractor drawn aerial. We carry medical equipment on here and we are all EMTs since 85% of our calls are medical emergencies,” Stevenson said.

“We were in charge of starting the race with our siren,” Stevenson said. “With some slushy snow on the ground it was easier for the children to see the eggs and all the eggs were found and picked up off the field.” λ