Troy Miller Easter egg hunt April 8 in Shreve, Berlin
The 2023 Troy Miller Insurance Agency Easter Egg Hunt will take place Saturday, April 8. The first Easter egg extravaganza will take place at Shreve Elementary at 1 p.m. The second hunt will follow at 4 p.m. at Berlin Elementary.
Let the organized chaos begin! The 2023 Troy Miller Insurance Agency Easter Egg Hunt will take place Saturday, April 8, and kids throughout the area will be the beneficiaries of the goodwill of the agency and its partner Commercial & Savings Bank.
The first Easter egg extravaganza will take place at Shreve Elementary at 1 p.m. The second hunt will follow at 4 p.m. at Berlin Elementary.
“Like we have in the past, we will have golden egg winners that will include prizes,” said Felicia Hay, marketing specialist at Troy Miller Insurance Agency. “We invite all the kids to come on out for this fun event, and they can also get their photo taken with the Easter Bunny.”
This popular Easter tradition is returning for its 21st year, and it has become a wildly popular event for the whole family, with children racing around the respective fields, gobbling up plastic eggs with a prize inside and placing them into bags or baskets.
Miller said for more than two decades he, his employees and members of CSB have enjoyed watching children scurrying to seek out and snap up 10,000 eggs filled with candy. Also, up for grabs are golden eggs for each of four age groups: 0-3 years, 4-6 years, 7-9 years and 10-12 years. Prizes include stuffed animals and gift certificates.
Each age group will be roped off, and children will wait for Miller to count down the time until the fun begins.
Miller said his agency was unable to hold the egg hunts the past two years due to the Ohio Health Department’s COVID protocols, and during those two years, they heard from many families who longed to attend.
After last year’s return, it’s like they never missed a beat.
“It’s become such a neat community event, and we really appreciate CSB and everything they’ve done to help sponsor the event,” Miller said.
As for the chaos that ensues after the countdown, it is a quick burst of energy followed by a minute of chaos, and in about two minutes the 5,000 eggs that once littered the field are gone.
“We do a countdown and off they go,” Miller said. “It’s really amazing to watch. I know it takes a lot less time for the kids to gather the eggs than it takes for us to distribute them around the field.”
Miller said he always gets nervous about how many people will show up, along with the possibility of inclement weather dampening the event. He said they have held the hunt with an inch of snow on the ground, so it will take a lot for them not to host.
“I just don’t want to pick up all those eggs,” he said. “I’d much rather have the kids do it. But thankfully every year families continue to show up and make this a fun event.”
Miller said that initially, the egg hunt was the idea of his late sister Mindy Shamp, and his family played an important role in making the event happen, either stuffing candy in the eggs at home or coming into the Shreve office to do so. Now Miller, his wife Nona and their employees at the agency’s Shreve and Berlin offices make the preparations and utilize the days heading into the event to prepare, knowing that a mad rush awaits come the day of the hunt.
While it is a lot of work, Miller said it’s all worthwhile seeing the joy in the faces of not only the children but of the parents as they watch their little ones sprint about collecting the eggs.
To make it all happen, Nona ordered 10,000 eggs in December from Sunny Bunny Easter Eggs.
“We know that those are quality eggs that will snap closed and stay closed,” Nona Miller said as she sat placing candy into dozens of pink eggs.
“I like to see people in the community having a good time,” Troy Miller said. “I know CSB has always been incredibly devoted to serving the community, and that is something we stress as well. It’s a tradition that we truly have grown to love and enjoy.”
He added that while each year brings its share of instant memories for the children, parents and volunteers, one particular moment stands out in his mind.
“I had a mother show me several years of photos she’d taken of her children at the Easter egg hunt with the Easter Bunny,” Troy Miller said. “That’s why we continue to do this, for moments like that. It’s all about creating something our communities can enjoy.”