Beep, beep!

POST FALLS — They cared not about wet grass or soggy shoes.

They scurried, they scampered and they followed the high-pitched beeping sounds until they found what they were after — colorful Easter eggs and a whole lot of candy.

And that candy was unwrapped at lightning speed. Mac Rigg, 6, of Post Falls, gobbled creamy chocolate Sixlets faster than anyone could say "Easter Bunny."

"He's been talking about this the past couple days," said Mac's dad, Jeff. "He's been super excited to do this."

More than 50 youngsters and parents Saturday gathered in Kiwanis Park for North Idaho's first beeping Easter egg hunt. Beepers were placed inside big eggs to serve as beacons and were stashed among regular candy-filled plastic eggs so blind and visually challenged kiddos would know where to find the goods.

"These kids are just like any other kids. They want to hunt for Easter eggs, they want to make themselves sick on chocolate and then they want to go home," said egg hunt coordinator Jackie Stallings. "Our goal is letting these kids be kids."

Stallings, who is a vocational rehabilitation counselor with the Idaho Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, said she and a handful of parents and vision teachers planned the beeping egg hunt as a fun event for the kids as well as a community-building event for the adults.

"When you have a blind child, it's nice to know other people who are going through the same thing," she said. "It can be kind of an isolating condition because there aren’t many of us out there.

"I think this is going to be great. Most of these people have never met before today," she said.

Stallings said the beepers were borrowed from the Washington State Department of Services for the Blind and that beeping Easter eggs were first conceived and created by bomb squad techs.

Unlike egg hunts where sighted children madly dash across grassy lawns to collect as many eggs as humanly possible, the pace of the beeping egg hunt was calm and peaceful.

"This is great, especially for some of these guys," Jeff Rigg said. "Easter egg hunts just go so fast and they’re just crazy and this is good for these guys because it’s slower and calm and it takes them longer to find stuff, so the beeping really helps them. And to have no pressure, no rush, it’s just really nice."

Priscilla Pullen of Coeur d’Alene followed behind her daughter Sophia, 3, as she carefully made her way to the egg piles throughout the park. Sophia has nystagmus, a condition that causes involuntary eye movement, and amblyopia, which causes the eye to wander.

"So far she’s doing great," Priscilla said. "She’s surprising us every day."

She said the beeping egg hunt was a good idea.

“I felt like it was a good way to connect with other parents who are also going through the same thing because you don’t really run into a lot of other people in the same situation," she said. "This is just way more calm, unlike other Easter egg hunts. And that’s always been our trouble at other Easter egg hunts, they’re a little crazy and rowdy. They’re excited, but this is just more low-key for the kids that need it. It’s sweet."

The families were invited to stay and picnic in the park when the hunt ended.

“I think it’s wonderful, this type of get-together,” said Stu Beatty of Coeur d'Alene, whose 17-year-old daughter, Rebecca, is a client of Stallings. "The work the Idaho Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Jackie and her staff do is so important. They truly are a hub for this community to have a connection. It’s not always easy to make connections; sometimes there’s a lot of different things that create separation, and this is a group where making connections is super important and really special."