Hail fails to slow easter hunt

Charging through the saturated, spring grasses of Bryan Park, a stampede of 350 adults reclaimed their childhood in this year's Bloomington Egg Scramble.\nThis now eight-year-old tradition is a far cry from those egg hunts of youth. \n"This is my first (egg hunt)," said Bloomington resident Joe Blaylock. "The one when I was 7 doesn't count. I didn't find anything; my mother found something and gave it to me."\nThis year, Blaylock and his wife were prepared with camping gear head lamps, vying for the numerous restaurant gift certificates, pizza coupons and even a Trek mountain bike or digital camera.\nConceived as an after-dark egg hunt for adults 21 or older, registration was $6 per person. \nSarah Nix organized the hunt with the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department.\n"It takes (the department) four months to plan it, but it gets over in seven minutes," said Akshay Kumar, a student volunteer from Alpha Kappa Psi.\nThis year's hunt was threatened by golf ball-sized hail that had fallen sporadically throughout the afternoon.\n"If it was rain, they agreed it was going to be a go because people are so serious," said Phoebe Tjondronegoro, a student volunteer from Beta Alpha Psi.\nWith torrential downpours, most of Bloomington's parks were flooded. The Scramble's hunting area in Bryan Park had been roped off and re-sized because of overflowing streams, mud puddles and fallen tree branches.\n"The scariest part is that even with the hail, sunshine, tornado, super-storm craz(iness), all those people showed up," said IU junior Dan Billick. "Hundreds and hundreds of head gear lamps lit up the apocalyptic sky, all for the promise of a digital camera."\nSome veterans lined up at the starting tape more than an hour before the race began. Tjondronegoro and Kumar said many veteran hunters carry garbage can-sized buckets, wear head lamps and carry large flashlights.\n"My wife insisted before we left the house, we had to go raid the camping gear," Blaylock said. "Yeah, I was just going to use the Maglights, but she thought that they'd slow us down."\nMost hunters won restaurant and pizza coupons from local businesses like Encore and Bloomington Bagel Company. One lucky hunter found a golden egg with a ticket for a brand new digital camera. \n"She was screaming like she won a house," said IU sophomore Brittany Shack.