Easter egg hunt in Old Colorado City canceled because of shmucky parents

Old Colorado City canceled its annual Easter egg hunt this year. The reason? Bad behavior at the 2011 event -- not by the pint-sized participants, but by their overprotective parents, who behaved like such greedy shmucks that the town decided the annual eggstravaganza wasn't worth the trouble...or bad publicity...

By Patricia Calhoun

April 6, 2012

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Old Colorado City canceled its annual Easter egg hunt this year. The reason? Bad behavior at the 2011 event -- not by the pint-sized participants, but by their overprotective parents, who behaved like such greedy shmucks that the town decided the annual eggstravaganza wasn't worth the trouble...or bad publicity.

Intent on making sure that their offspring got to the plastic eggs filled with candy and coupons for local business, those aggressive adults jumped over the rope into the children-only area in Bancroft Park outside of Colorado Springs, egging on their offspring. As a result, the 2011 hunt was over in seconds -- and this year, it's gone entirely.

But the saga lives on: Media outlets ranging from Fox News to the Washington Times have used an AP story on the cancellation as a public-service warning on the hazards of helicopter parents.

The yolk's on us.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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