Easter egg hunt organized for Hanover Street on Saturday

A group of businesses and organizations in the city are working together to help local children celebrate the Easter season downtown on Saturday.

Audrey Little, owner of A. Little Confection on Main Street, is partnering with Franklin Savings Bank, Imagine Gallery and the Historic Belknap Mill to put on an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 4 from noon to 3 p.m.

Hanover Street, which will be closed to traffic, will be the site of the festivities. Children aged 10 and younger are invited to participate in the egg hunt and have their picture taken with the Easter Bunny.

There will also be face painting, cotton candy and caramel apples and other food for sale.

Little said the Easter celebration is a similar concept to the "Halloween Spooktacular" that downtown businesspeople put on last year. "We got a lot of positive feedback on that," she said, and she's hoping to continue that momentum this weekend.

"The kids are so much fun to watch," she said when asked why she takes the task of organizing the event. "It's for the kids and for the adults to watch them have some fun — inexpensively," she said.

Several hundred eggs have already been stuffed with treats for the egg hunt. Little said these types of events are great to invigorate downtown, both by attracting people to the Main Street area and by encouraging camaraderie among the businesspeople. In her view, instead of competing against one another, the businesses downtown rely on each other's success to create an attractive marketplace for consumers. As she said it, "We compete together... What can I do for you today so that we can both be here tomorrow?"

The Parks and Recreation Department and the Tardif Park Association are sponsoring their traditional Easter Egg Hunt at the park at 10 a.m. on Saturday.