At Philly’s 92nd annual Easter Promenade, we talked eggs

Standing in a red Jeep convertible, the bow tie-wearing Easter Bunny was ready to kick off South Philly’s 92nd annual Easter Promenade. But, where was his egg-filled basket?

Bunny was not allowed to comment, a spokesperson said.

Despite egg prices dropping somewhat in time for the egg-centric holiday, the Easter Bunny wasn’t the only one leaving the oval-shaped food out of Sunday’s celebrations.

Lisa Spark opted not to decorate eggs with her 6-year-old daughter, Hyra, this year.

“They cost too much,” Spark said, chuckling. “You’re gonna dye those eggs and who gonna eat them? When you could scramble them, boil them, put them in a potato salad, make deviled eggs. No, we’re not wasting the eggs.”

Instead, Spark opted for creating new traditions around the holiday and the Easter Bunny, like bringing her daughter to the Promenade on South Street, and giving her $2 plastic eggs she filled with toys and other treats.

Carrying his daughter Amelia, 6, on his shoulders, Moe Eccles, 33, said he had been fully ready to follow down the path of egg alternatives.

“She’s vegan and I haven’t really eaten eggs since the price went up,” Eccles said.

That changed when Eccles’ mother brought them a small carton of eggs for Amelia to decorate in her favorite colors: pink, purple, silver, and gold.

“I’m going to give them to my dogs [to not waste them] cause they like hard-boiled eggs,” Eccles said.

“Dad, I wanna crack them open for them,” Amelia responded as she put bunny ears on his head.

There were others at the Promenade who carried on with the holiday’s egg-decorating tradition despite the prices.

For Jen Suarez, that part of Easter is a way to make her daughters Lana, 6, and Mia, 8, feel family unity at a time when the country feels divided.

“It was $5-something for a dozen, which is kind of high,” Suarez said. “But, I feel like everything is so divided, even in families. It’s kind of a little upsetting, so we’re just trying to keep some tradition going for our kids.”

That resonates with Stephanie Jackson and Danesha Gallier, longtime Promenade attendees and winners Sunday in the family-attire category, wearing matching garden-green outfits.

“It just seems like Easter is not a holiday anymore,” Gallier said.

But, between raising a 7-month-old son, and 3- and 7-year-old daughters, buying a dozen eggs to decorate was not on their list of priorities.

Instead, the South Street annual Easter Promenade has become the family’s holiday tradition.

“Everything is going up and unfortunately it’s the way the economy is right now,” Gallier said. “Some people aren’t making the best choices and aren’t realizing how it affects the everyday person, but we just try to work with it the best we can.”