On Saturday, March 30, Michigan City held a citywide Easter egg hunt at Fedder’s Alley in Washington Park. There was quite the turnout as hundreds of residents were in attendance to celebrate Easter Sunday.
Michigan City Police Department and company made sure the children had an experience of a lifetime. There was an abundance of activities for all, including tables with prizes, a semi-truck that the kids could climb in, and live animals. The citywide hunt has taken place every year for the last decade and shows no signs of slowing down.
“The last two years we have been fortunate enough to have a special events director who has helped coordinate everything to make sure it goes well. They have allowed us to be involved in being here, and they have coordinated and made sure we have done all the logistical stuff. We have been very fortunate to have the special events department coordinate and facilitate it all,” Marty Corley, Chief of Police for the Michigan City Police Department, said.
The beauty in such a large gathering is the opportunity to not only see some unfamiliar faces, but to build relationships around the community.
“When we started this, the highlight of it was to make sure we bridged that gap between law enforcement and first responders into the community. This was a way for us to be out in the community and doing stuff for the community, and getting to know people by building relationships,” Corley said.
Michigan City as a whole really came together to make this all possible. From people volunteering out of the kindness of their hearts to making some of these children’s days better, the community showed up and showed out.
“It has been an all-around community effort. You get all the different departments that come in and contribute. We have volunteers in the costumes. We have people working the tables, we have Williams trucking; you name it, we have it. This is an all-around great community effort of us making sure Michigan City has the things we know our community needs and wants,” Corley said.
For those running the event, over the last decade, it has become more about building a stronger community. The end goal is allowing everyone to enjoy themselves in the safest environment possible. That goal seemed to exceed expectations today.
“We just want everybody to have a safe and blessed Easter. A goal for us is we want people to continue to look out for events and get involved in those events,” said Corley.
The citywide Easter egg hunt is not the only community event that the Police Department throws together. There are plenty more opportunities coming up.
“Our next massive event for the police department will be National Night Out, which is the first Tuesday in August. We will have a planning committee coming up and if anybody is interested in donating, or volunteering for that event, or even being a vendor, we will be looking for it all,” Corley said. “Now we are looking for a nice, safe summer of different activities that would be done at the beach, and we appreciate the volunteers and the city for coming out for this event and enjoying it.”
For more information, visit: www.emichigancity.com or www.emichigancity.com/160/Police.