Lane Hinton, 5, left, and Aidan Waterman, 11, look through their eggs together. (Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin photo)

REDMOND — Nine-year-old Kaden Aernie had a strategy for the Easter egg hunt Saturday morning at Quince Park.

Kaden — who arrived with his 7-year-old sister, Molly, and parents, Bob and Teri, of Redmond — planned to run past the crowd of smaller children and quickly grab the plastic eggs on the outskirts.

“I have to go way over there by the trees so the little kids can get all these eggs,” Kaden said from his starting position along the park.

When the Easter Bunny gave the signal for the hunt to start, Kaden made his move through the dozens of children who had converged on the park to hunt for 1,000 eggs.

Kaden eventually came back with a basket full of 10 plastic eggs. His sister, Molly, found seven eggs — just like her age, she said.

The siblings opened each egg and found stickers, bouncy balls and wristbands. One item they had hoped for was obviously missing. “We want candy,” Molly said.

As a consolation, their mom, Teri, told them they could grab Smarties candy from an Easter basket full of free candy at the event, before leaving the park.

Sara Thompson, of Madras, was running errands in Redmond Saturday morning with her 7-year-old daughter, Jordyn, when she saw the Easter egg hunt being set up at the park.

Thompson thought it was the perfect festive activity for Jordyn before Easter Sunday.

“We were getting some things over here, and I thought we could check this out while we are going through,” Thompson said.

Amber Palmer, of Redmond, stood by as her 10-year-old son, Atraeu, made his way through the hunt. Palmer said she was impressed with the event, hosted by Triumph Fitness.

In past years, Palmer said, she tried bringing Atraeu to other Easter egg hunts in the area, but the events were too crowded, and people were too pushy.

Moments before the egg hunt Saturday, Palmer offered her son some pointers on how to gather as many eggs as he could.

“If he runs to the back and works his way in, he won’t get crowded by everyone,” she said. “He’s pretty fast.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7820, kspurr@bendbulletin.com