An annual PEZ Easter egg hunt ended earlier than expected after pushy parents didn't listen to the rules of the game, the general manager told NBC Connecticut.
"I take this personally. I don’t want this to be a reflection of the brand," Shawn Peterson, the general manager of the PEZ visitor's center in Orange, said. "It was a fun thing up until this point."
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Staff had laid out nearly 10,000 eggs over three fields and planned three start times for different age groups. Some parents ignored that plan, rushed the fields early, and things became chaotic.
"By the time I found my 4-year-old, he was hysterically crying," Nicole Welch of West Haven said.
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"Somebody pushed me over and take my eggs and it's very rude of them and they broke my bucket," Vincent Welch said.
Several parents were trampling over signs and shoving other participants at the annual hunt, causing chaos at the family-friendly event. One woman said an adult injured her grandchild's nose.
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"My grandson ended up with a bloody from an ADULT in the 9-12 year old section knocking into him!!!! Where was PEZ personnel?? Where was the safety of our children in your thought process?? And to make matters worse, how about almost getting hit by a vehicle leaving your property, which had parked in your lot and was leaving, in very close proximity to the "egghunt" field"?" Jennifer Barden-Moore wrote on Facebook.
The event had more participants than the venue had expected; there were more than 1,000 people in attendance, Peterson said.
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PEZ said its staff pleaded with parents to follow the rules but its staff was overwhelmed.
On its Facebook page, it commented that:
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"Due to the actions of a few, the good intent quickly turned into a mess. I would like to sincerely apologize to each of our guests...We only wanted to do good for the local community."
Peterson said that this year, the parents "took over."
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This year, parents were on the "kids only" fields and going to the next hunt well before the designated start times. The signs on each field were taken or trampled on, Peterson explained.
Parents stormed the PEZ Facebook page with concerns and frustrations about the lack of order.
Peterson defends that having one employee at each hunt field is how the company has done it for past Easter events with no incident.
One father wrote that his fiancé went to grab his 5-year-old from being trampled by other adults.
"You let all age groups go at the same time. Adults were running on the field after there was no adult signs. Pez had 0 control over the event. My fiancé ran onto the field to grab our 5 yr old in fear for her being trampled, " Talon Hamand commented.
Peterson said the company purposely did not widely advertise the event in order to keep the number of attendants low. When PEZ noticed the number of people, they offered parents free coupons and candy inside the venue.
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