In search of sweets

Hundreds of children 9 and under came with their parents to Central Park on Saturday morning for the sweetest of annual traditions — the Central Park Easter Hunt, where instead of looking for eggs they grabbed up mounds of candy.

Volunteers at the event, sponsored by the city of Huntington Beach Community Services Department and the Huntington Beach Kiwanis Club, ripped open bags and bags of chocolate bars, hard candies and more, scattering them across a roped-off field for a quarter of an hour before letting each age group fan out through the gates with their parents.

Lila Holden, 6, marched out of the ring with a basket overflowing with multicolored taffies. She was already unwrapping her first treat, this one streaked with blue and white.

“They’re my favorite,” she said, adding it was her second year. “I want to do it again!”

But the hunt wasn’t the only thing the celebration had to offer.

A musical group sang mostly ‘60s hits like “All Along the Watchtower,” while numerous booths around the field offered carnival games or gave kids a chance to meet police officers, firefighters and other city employees.

A crowd met in the middle, munching on pancakes.

The Huntington Beach Municipal Employees Assn. gave out kid-sized hard hats, which some children used to scoop up candy later, while police officers stood in front of a patrol car and gave kids badges.

There was a 20-minute line to throw sponges at a grinning volunteer who peeked through a cardboard cutout, while dozens of children waited at a hulking yellow piece of construction equipment to get their picture taken in the operator’s seat.

Nathan Givens, 5, of Huntington Beach, raised his fists in triumph as he posed for his parents’ camera.

“I’m in a truck!” he told them. “It’s so big!”