The Easter Bunny, apparently, is not a snowshoe hare.
This season’s abundant snowfall has turned up an unexpected issue — it’s forcing the Aspen Historical Society to cancel its traditional Easter egg hunt on Sunday because there’s too much snow in the park where the event is usually held.
Snow is piled up two to four feet high in Ruth Whyte Park, which makes it “essentially unsafe” to hold the event, said AHS communications director Tom Egan, given that that’s as tall as many of the 200-300 kids who normally participate in the Easter egg hunt.
“Although it’d be fun to watch,” Egan added.
The Easter egg hunt is an approximately 50-year-old tradition that’s been held on the West End grounds of the historical society for the past 35-40 years. Egan did not know of another time when the event had to be canceled due to too much snow, but they haven’t had that problem in the last 10-12 years.
One of the issues is that Easter is earlier than ever this year. Last year’s event was held in early April, after a warm March that melted all but a trace of snow under the trees in the historical society park.
According to a press release announcing the cancellation, Peter Cottontail was quoted as saying of his decision, “This is more like ‘Santa Claus’ than ‘Easter Bunny’ conditions and I’m afraid that two-foot high children just wouldn’t do that well in four-foot high snow. The beach, on the other hand … .”
Cottontail was last seen heading for Cabo, according to the release.
