MEXICO – An estimated 140 children ages 6 and under endured chilly weather on Saturday to participate in the annual Easter Egg Hunt.

“This is fantastic,” said Cherri Crockett, River Valley Chamber of Commerce administrator.

“This is great!” said Robert Grinnell of Rumford, grinning widely as he stood behind the Mexico Fire Station and marveled at the crowd.

Grinnell, a Rumford District Court bail commissioner, said he sponsored two Easter baskets for the event.

“Next year, I think I’ll sponsor four or five,” he said. “This is a great thing.”

Crockett said the event had so many sponsors this year that members filled 230 baskets. “The Dollar Tree was amazing. They donated every single basket.”

The other half of the egg hunt ran from 6 a.m. to noon for children ages 7 to 12. That involved listening to local radio station WOXO for 115 clues to 115 plastic eggs hidden in businesses in eight of the chamber’s nine towns. Crockett said Andover doesn’t participate, because the town holds its own Easter egg hunt.

“At 5 o’clock this morning, there were people looking for the eggs with flashlights, and it didn’t start until 6,” Crockett said. “We even have volunteers who hide the eggs after dark and they’re followed around by townspeople, because they want to find them later.”

Children participating in the chamber and Mexico Fire Department Easter Egg Hunt were allotted one plastic egg each to redeem for an Easter basket from the Easter bunny and his helpers behind the Fire Station.

However, there were more children than baskets and eggs to find in the 6 and under event.

“Now we know that next year, we have to do another 20 or 40 baskets,” Crockett said.

For younger children, volunteers hid 115 plastic eggs in the vicinity of the Fire Station and parking island lawns behind it. Firefighters used vehicles and traffic cones to block off the area.

Twenty-two volunteers hid eggs or wrote clues to egg locations or packed and stuffed the baskets.

“We’ve got great volunteers that come out and hide 20 eggs each in Rumford, Mexico and Dixfield,” Crockett said. “Usually, we don’t have a lot of volunteers for our committees or events, but this one seems to be overloaded with volunteers.”