The Great Golden Egg Hunt returns to Downtown Springfield

The Great Golden Egg Hunt is making its way back to Downtown Springfield this week, and the unique, social media guided event has already garnered attention.

Unlike a traditional kids-only egg hunt for candy-filled plastic eggs that is over and done as quickly as the kids' feet can carry them, The Great Golden Egg Hunt is for adults and children, spread out throughout Downtown, and spaced over three hours.

"It's a social scavenger hunt of sorts, all run through social media," says event organizer Tracey Tackett, who owns Sip & Dipity Paint Bar, located in the Heritage Center. 

From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 15, clues to the locations of various golden eggs will be posted on The Great Golden Egg Hunt event page within the Clark County OH Events group on Facebook. 

Golden eggs will each contain a ticket for a numbered prize that can be picked up at COhatch Springfield. Each participant can only claim one of the about 50 golden egg prizes, however plenty of candy-filled eggs will be spread around Downtown as well, Tackett says. 

The trick: Not all of the golden eggs will be hidden at once, rather the eggs will be disbursed throughout the night, Tackett says. So, for example, if you search City Hall Plaza at 6:15 p.m. and don't find any golden eggs, a clue posted within the event at 7:30 p.m. might lead you right back to the same site to find a golden winner that was hidden in the meantime. 

The event is free and open to the public. No registration is required. 

Tackett says she's happy to be able to bring the event back again after taking two years off because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"For me, it's about being passionate about your community and improving community culture by bringing people together with social gatherings like this in our Downtown," she says. "It's about having something fun people can do together and bringing families together from all over our county."

And in addition to community engagement, Tackett says she enjoys building opportunities to showcase not only the growth of Downtown Springfield itself but also the investment and commitment of the many Downtown businesses. 

"I've been in business Downtown for eight years now, and I've seen the evolution of our Downtown, and it still surprises me the number of people who don't know about all the positive things happening here," she says. "There are already great events like Holiday in the City and the Farmer's Market, but adding other things, too, strengthens the foundation of where we're going as a community by bringing people together."

Some of that strength, Tackett says, can be seen in the egg hunt prizes themselves. All the candy and prizes for the event have been donated by businesses, organizations and individuals who offered to help and wanted to get involved. 

She added that AAMCO Transmissions reached out to offer help in finding some businesses to sponsor prizes, and The Car Spa and Sarah Holsinger of Edward Jones donated $100 each in cash as two of the many golden egg prizes.

"I'm always blown away by how readily the businesses - Downtown businesses and other businesses - just jump right in to support these events. They want these events, too, and they want to give back to the community," Tackett says. "So, I'd ask everyone coming, please plan to enjoy and patronize the businesses while you're (at the egg hunt). Stop in and say hello and see what's happening - buy a pastry, grab a sandwich. Have yourself a fun family Friday night in Downtown."