NATCHEZ – A crowd of children quickly scooped eggs into baskets Saturday during the annual Miss-Lou Easter egg hunt.

&uot;They just like being outside, said Joyce Ivory about her son, two-year-old Jalen and her nephew, three-year-old Lyndon.

Jalen and Lyndon were two of hundreds of children ranging in age from one to 10 who ran across Duncan Park baseball fields to gather plastic eggs.&160;The event in has become an annual Miss-Lou tradition.

&uot;This year was better,&uot; Joyce Ivory said.

To help make the hunt easier for children three-years-old and younger the event included a special egg hunt just for them.

&uot;It was bigger than ever,&uot; said Bobby Ewing, whose family organizes the event. &uot;We got a lot of compliments because we split the egg hunt up in groups.&uot;

Children often found candy inside some 9,000 eggs used in the hunt. Some of the plastic eggs also contained numbers that could be redeemed for toys or other prizes such as live bunnies.

Creighton McCall, 5, said he did not find a &uot;live bunny&uot; egg but another child had found one but could not keep it.

&uot;They just gave me the piece of paper,&uot; McCall said.

McCall said he was not certain what his mother would think when he came home with a bunny.

&uot;She might be tickled by it,&uot; McCall said, referring to the bunny’s fur.

Shedrick Green, 6, also received a bunny that he decided to name Angel. He said he looked forward to having it for a pet and playing with it.

&uot;It’s going to be a lot of work,&uot; said Paula Green, Shedrick’s mother.

This problem did not phase Shedrick Green.

&uot;It ain’t going to be a lot of work for me,&uot; said Green.

The Miss-Lou egg hunt first began more than 30 years ago and after a short break it began again six years ago.

&uot;I did not know I married into this hunt but I did,&uot; said Karren Ewing, Bobby Ewing’s wife.