Winnipeg Easter egg hunt: How one mom is getting a city involved in finding Easter eggs

A golden egg that was hidden by Frances Hall as part of a city-wide Easter egg hunt, on March 24, 2024. (Frances Hall)

A Winnipeg mom is working to spread joy this Easter by getting the entire city involved in an Easter egg hunt.

Frances Hall said she started hiding eggs in her neighbourhood in 2021 after her son asked to help kids who might not be able to celebrate Easter during the pandemic.

She said they filled up little plastic eggs with goodies and hid them around the neighbourhood.

This morphed into hiding them around Winnipeg.

"Then my son started recommending as we went out and did certain errands, he's like 'Let's go hide some of the eggs outside the store or just outside the doctor's office or just outside of the playground.'…So that's how we started really expanding," said Hall.

An Easter egg hidden somewhere in Winnipeg. March 24, 2024. (Frances Hall)

Now, she hides the eggs, takes pictures of the area and posts them on her egg-hunting Facebook page as clues for people to find them.

"It kind of started taking off. Other people started hiding eggs. Other people started finding it and as soon as they found an egg, they would go and make more from their home and then go (hide them). So it started expanding as other people started to join and get excited about it as well."

Usually, she starts hiding eggs a month before Easter, but with the cooler weather, 2024's hunt didn't start until after St. Patrick's Day. People can search for eggs up until at least Easter Monday, Hall said.

Since starting this, the stories and feedback Hall has heard have been amazing she said.

"They'll say, 'I'm an adult and looking for this egg made me feel like a kid all over again and it brought a sparkle to my day.'"

An Easter egg hidden somewhere in Winnipeg. March 24, 2024. (Frances Hall)

Hall even hides eggs from time to time known as golden eggs which have some money inside of them.

"A mom and her kids found the golden egg (once) and the kids were super excited. They ended up going to the corner store not too far away from where they lived and ended up buying a treat for (themselves) and their sibling and donated the rest to the little charity box that was on the counter. The kids were so happy that they got excited and started hiding their own eggs."

She hopes more people will join in on the hunt in Winnipeg and doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon.

"I have quite a few years ahead of me and honestly, because I'm having fun, I might continue it once my kids are adults."