All Pez wanted was “to do good for the local community” and “create a fun, free activity for everyone to enjoy.” Unfortunately, parents in Orange, Conn. didn’t grasp Pez’s intentions. Instead, Pez’s Easter egg hunt descended into violent anarchy, leaving scores of Easter baskets, plastic, and children’s dreams battered in the aftermath.
Pez placed over 9,000 plastic eggs across three fields with the intention to stagger start times so every kid who showed up had an opportunity to hunt for Easter eggs without turning the event into a recreation of Lord of the Flies. Unfortunately, Pez did not account for jackass parents, who instead said to hell with the rules and laid siege to the fields at the Pez Visitor Center before the event was even supposed to begin.
While Pez employees tried to get the mob under control, their efforts proved fruitless. The whole thing, the “fun, free activity for everyone to enjoy,” had already taken a dark turn. The hopes and dreams of the children in attendance were already being trampled by their insatiably impulsive parents.
When the dust settled, some parents — who presumably did not participate in the unholy Easter maelstrom — took the time to criticize the violent behavior of other parents who laid waste to the fields on “Bloody Easter.” When discussing the incident with CBS-affiliate WFSB, parent Nicole Welch stated that “parents just bum-rushed the area“ when 10:30 am rolled around.
Other parents also weighed in on the day the Easter bunny died. Val McCormick commented that the tragedy at the Pez Visitor Center “was worse than being at Wal-Mart on Black Friday,” making the incident one of the five worst events anyone could have attended at any point in human history. But, while some parents spoke to the media in anecdotes, Lisa Stahl took to Pez’s Facebook page and gave an account of the horror that unfolded at the Easter egg hunt.
“Shame on that parent that broke the little boy’s bucket causing him to lose the few eggs he had, that someone else then picked up. Shame on the person that bloodied another child’s nose and to those of you that hogged all the eggs for your own kids.
If anyone is to blame for what happened today it’s the parents who tore down the signs and those that encouraged the kids to go from field to field instead of staying in their designated area.”
Sweet zombie Jesus, that’s depressing.
General manager Shawn Peterson said the Pez staff tried to enforce the start times and gain control of the situation, but he noted that the parents in attendance were “kind of like locusts.” In a statement on Easter Sunday, Pez officials lamented the incident.
“Unfortunately people chose to enter the first field prior to anyone from Pez staff starting the activity. The crowd moved to the second field, waited for only a couple of minutes and proceeded to rush the field without being directed to do so and before the posted start time.”
Crying children. Violent parents. Confusion. Animosity. Pez’s attempt at a fun, family-friendly Easter event looked more like a Trump rally than a holiday game when the smoke cleared. Children will tell tales of the tragedy that unfolded on “Bloody Easter” on blacktops and in tree houses for years to come.
Featured image via Pixabay, available under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
[H/T Raw Story]