At times Saturday morning, it seemed you couldn’t walk a few feet in Natchez without finding an Easter egg, with several organizations sponsoring hunts throughout town.

&uot;We try to attend as often as we can,&uot;&160;said Jennifer Green, who brought her sons Michael, 10, and Blake, 10 months, to an egg hunt at Duncan Park. &uot;The big prizes bring a lot of people out, but the main thing is for the kids to have fun.&uot;

Public Easter egg hunts were sponsored by Dallas Productions at Duncan Park and by the Natchez Lions Club, Natchez Mall and 95 Country at the mall.

At both, hundreds of children stormed the fields to pick up plastic eggs filled with candy, gift certificates and tickets for bikes, toys and other prizes. Many parents led them by the hand, while others ran alongside them with cameras and camcorders.

&uot;We’ve been practicing all week, hiding eggs around the house for him to find,&uot;&160;said Joanne Thornton, watching as grandson Kade Boone, 21 months, toddled across an area reserved for smaller children to hunt eggs at the mall. &uot;He wants a bicycle. He’s definitely ready for this.&uot;

Hosting the Duncan Park Easter egg hunt has been a tradition for the Ewing family for 35 years now, said Karen Ewing. Her husband Bobby’s company, Dallas Productions, sponsored the event.

&uot;It’s totally free and open to the public,&uot;&160;Karen Ewing said. &uot;It’s so important to him to keep this up every year. And it’s so much fun for the kids.&uot;

And Junior Auxiliary sponsored a private egg hunt for children at the Guardian Shelter and Oak Towers. There, more than 15 children eagerly collected eggs under the watchful eye of J.A. members, shelter employees and parents.

&uot;They’ve been talking about it all week,&uot; said Javaundra Puckett, an Oak Towers resident who brought her 6- and 4-year-old children to the J.A. event. &uot;Each holiday, J.A. tries to have something for them to do. It’s fun for them — and that’s what’s important to me.&uot;

The J.A. Easter egg hunt included lunch and Easter baskets for the children — and, like the other events, visits with the Easter Bunny.