Easter eggs lay in wait for children scouring the lawn around the Campanile on Saturday at an annual Easter egg hunt.

The chime of the Campanile’s bells at 10 a.m. Saturday signaled the start of the event, when more than 150 children and their parents swept over Central Campus to collect Easter eggs and candy.

Cold and windy weather didn’t stop the kids from scouring the area for the more than 3,000 plastic eggs placed around the Campanile. After about 15 minutes, the only eggs left on the ground were empty ones.

Seven-year-old Michael Holtzbauer and his 5-year-old brother Matthew attended the Easter egg hunt for the second year in a row.

Both boys said they had a fun time, each collecting heaping bucketfuls of candy-filled eggs. Both of the Holtzbauers’ parents are ISU employees.

“I just went back there [in the corner by Curtiss Hall] where no one else was,” Michael said, explaining his strategy for egg collection.

Inter-Fraternity Council Vice President of Philanthropy Chris Milner, junior in civil engineering, helped organize the hunt. All ISU sororities and fraternities were involved in the Easter egg hunt. Each were responsible for purchasing three dozen eggs, filling them with candy and hiding them before the hunt started.

A new addition to the hunt this year was a photographer who took pictures of the children as they searched for eggs and met the Easter bunny. The pictures were then made available online for parents to access. Milner said he thought this year’s hunt was a success because of the turnout and the new addition of having pictures taken.

“I had a lot of parents and kids tell me what a good time they had,” he said.

Katy Bell, Collegiate Panhellenic Council Director of Special Projects and junior in hotel, restaurant and institution management, said this year’s hunt was above and beyond expectations.

Bell said it was fun to see the kids and parents excited about the hunt.

“I think this is one of the best things the greek community does. Events like this are really exciting for us because kids come and have a good time, and it’s a great way for us to be involved with the community,” Bell said.