For children with different types of disabilities, going to a large Easter egg hunt can be an uncomfortable experience.

That’s why Tom Judd, pastor of White’s Chapel United Methodist Church, decided to start offering an egg hunt for special needs kids and their siblings.

The first one was conducted last year inside the church north of Seymour because of the weather.

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The sunny weather Saturday morning allowed the church to have it outside this year, and it was at the playground at Emerson Elementary School in Seymour, where Judd’s daughter, Emily Armuth, is a speech and hearing clinician.

“It’s so that they have a place to come that doesn’t intimidate them, they can relax and have fun with it and the parents feel comfortable with it,” Judd said. “Seeing the reaction on the kids’ faces, it’s a blessing, it really is.”

After Judd explained how the egg hunt was going to work, he offered a short prayer for the families in attendance. Then the kids went to different areas of the playground to pick up plastic eggs, place them in their basket and turn them in for a bag of treats.

“It’s just a ministry of the church and to have the opportunity to pray with them and invite them to church,” Judd said. “We see a lot of them come back and visit the church periodically.”

Melanie O’Neal of Seymour said it brought her joy to see her stepdaughter, Jorja O’Neal, 11, have a chance to participate in an Easter egg hunt in a safe environment.

“If you go to a regular Easter egg hunt with her, she gets ran over, and she might get one egg or two,” Melanie O’Neal said. “This is the first year we’ve been here, and I think it’s fabulous. It’s a controlled environment, and she was able to pick up eggs at her own pace. I think it was great.”

More than a dozen other Easter egg hunts were conducted around Jackson County on Saturday, and a handful of hunts and other Easter events were scheduled Sunday.

A popular one in the central part of the county was Saturday at Hickory Hills Golf Club in Brownstown. It was co-hosted by the golf course and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

Reserve Officer Scott Davis said the sheriff’s department has been conducting an Easter egg hunt each year since the state police stopped doing one when the post moved from Seymour.

“There’s a need for something in this portion of the county,” Davis said. “We’re a little ways from Seymour out here, but we still wanted one. The first few years, we did it at the courthouse, but it wasn’t the best location for it. But since we moved it here, the number of people exploded.”

The event featured 3,000 eggs and two hunts — one for children and one for adults.

“This is the most eggs we’ve ever had, and this is the largest the event has ever been,” Davis said. “It gets bigger every year, and we try to tell people to get here early.”

Sheriff Mike Carothers donates all of the candy, and the plastic eggs are reused each year, Davis said. John Olson, the professional at Hickory Hills, allows them to use the course for the event.

“Lots of volunteers, reserve deputies, sheriff’s department deputies, jail staff, (and) sheriff’s posse are a huge part of this,” Davis said. “It would not happen without reserve officers and sheriff’s posse. They do tremendous work each year. We just can’t be any happier with the help we get.”

Hunter Trueblood, 8, of Brownstown said he was hoping to find chocolate inside the eggs scattered around the golf course.

His strategy? “Go fast and get as many eggs as I can,” Hunter said.

Gavin Couch, 7, of Brownstown said his favorite candy is Mike and Ike. He said he likes going around to get as many eggs as he can.

Another popular place Saturday was Rose Acre Farms west of Seymour.

The egg production company used to invite employees’ families to the facility during Easter weekend. But four years ago, the company decided to start a community egg hunt and family fun day for the public, and it has grown each year.

This year’s event featured games, balloon animals, a magic show, inflatables, a petting zoo and refreshments for children and families to enjoy. There also was a balloon launch with 600 balloons before an Easter egg hunt.

Ryan Hackman, corporate project administrator for Rose Acre Farms, also contacted community and school groups and organizations to set up booths and offer activities, and 10 participated.

A silent auction with 50 items was added this year, and Hackman said proceeds will benefit the 10 groups that participated in the event.

“They are able to benefit from the exposure,” Hackman said.

Anchor House Family Assistance Center in Seymour had a table at the event, giving people a chance to donate canned goods for the organization’s food pantry. Hackman said the goal was to collect 500 pounds of canned goods.

He said the event also gives people an opportunity to learn about Rose Acre Farms. A display was set up with pictures showing what the company does.

“We get a lot of first-time people that have moved to Seymour that really don’t know what we are,” he said. “They have a lot of questions, so we set up a display to show them a little bit about what we do and where their eggs come from.”

Trey Cash, 11, of Seymour said he had fun playing games, and he also liked helping with a guillotine trick during the magic show. He held onto the hand of his stepmother, Kim Cash of Seymour, as magician Travis Easterling performed the trick.

“It was kind of surprising,” he said of being selected to help with the show. “It took a lot of confidence to come up in front of a lot of people.”

Fortunately, Kim Cash still had her hand after the trick.

“I was hoping it wouldn’t malfunction,” she said of the guillotine.

Kim Cash said she heard about the event on Facebook and decided to check it out with Trey and other family members, including her husband, Luke Cash.

“The petting zoo is pretty cool for the kids, and they love the bouncy houses,” Luke Cash said.

Luke Cash said the event shows Rose Acre Farms is community-oriented, and Kim Cash said it’s good that the company gets the community involved.

Hackman said he hopes everyone had a good time Saturday.

“We think it’s just great that we can give something back to the community because this is our customers and our neighbors, and we want to feel like we care about the community and let them know that we’re here to be a part of that,” he said.

“I like to see people enjoy a day with their family,” he added. “It’s free, they get to go home with some prizes, it’s just good fellowship for a whole family and they don’t have to worry about spending a lot of money. We just want to make it a very well-rounded event so people continue to come back.”