It isn’t truly spring in Callicoon until the Easter Bunny has hopped onto the Delaware Youth Center grounds to deliver some holiday fun for local kids. 

This past Saturday’s hunt drew dozens of small searchers and their families to scoop up the plastic eggs hidden across the grounds by the non-profit’s volunteers. 

Egg hunts have gained popularity across the United States, but in Callicoon there’s something egg-stra special about celebrating the spring holiday on the trail of the bunny’s treasures—a chance to pay tribute to the community’s deep Germanic roots. 

Historians have traced the tradition of scooping up treats left behind by a holiday bunny back hundreds of years to Germany, where the “Oschter Haws” or “Easter hare” would leave colorful eggs for good little girls and boys.