City evaluating egg hunt event

The city of Destin is evaluating its annual egg hunt after some parents complained about the hunt's false start and what they call a "fire and brimstone sermon."

Some residents told city staffers that they were offended by Destin Assembly pastor Jason Poole's sermon, which included references to "serpents," high gas prices and the perils of divorce.

"Sharing a message of hope, peace, tolerance, kindness and community cohesiveness with your fellow community members at this type of event is one thing," Destin resident Lori Moore wrote in a column to The Log. "What was shared here was quite another."

Now the city is "refining our theme to ensure the event is welcoming, positive, uplifting and fun," the city's weekly report says.

Things seemed to be going off without a hitch on that beautiful Saturday morning. The ball fields behind Destin Elementary School were dotted with plastic eggs packed with candy. Extended families with kids carrying decorative baskets ranging from camouflage to Easter pastels milled around waiting for the hunt.

Just before the hunt at the event co-sponsored by the city and Destin Assembly, Poole beckoned the crowd to the church’s “Action Jesus” trailer, where the pastor stood with a megaphone. He promised to give the crowd instructions after a prayer and his now controversial mini-sermon.

During the sermon, many of the 6- to 12-year-olds had chosen to wait for the big scramble at their ball field, and someone in the crowd apparently yelled an unauthorized “Go!” This unleashed an unstoppable wave of kids who snatched up all the eggs in minutes while volunteers stood by helplessly.

Nearly 2,500 people participated in the Easter Egg Hunt last Saturday at the Destin Elementary Athletic Fields.

"Overall it went very well," a city report says. "Post event evaluation is taking place now and we are confident that next year’s event will be even better. Improvements for next year include: holding the event at Morgan’s to better handle parking, restrooms, electrical power needs and crowd control; getting more community organizations to be partners in this event.

"Wal-Mart of Destin has already committed to a substantial contribution for the 2009 event and preliminary discussions have begun with other groups for next year’s event," the report concludes