From the Rotary Club of Le Roy:
The membership of the Rotary Club of Le Roy felt that Easter is traditionally a holiday and season of hope for many, and anticipated that the continuation “Easter Egg Drive-thru” would boost the spirits of the community in a time of global despair.
The annual tradition of the Le Roy Easter Egg Hunt began nearly 30 years ago. Traditionally, the Easter Egg Hunt is held the Saturday prior to Easter at Le Roy Central School’s Hartwood Park.
This year’s adapted event of the egg drive-thru was scheduled to take place on April 11th at the village’s Trigon Park, which was deemed able to handle the expected traffic safely. Rotary had worked with the Village of Le Roy Board, and Police and devised a plan that worked within the guidelines of both the CDC and New York State to distribute the 8,000 candy stuffed eggs.
Shortly before 8 a.m. the morning of the event, the club's President Mary Young received a call from Le Roy Village Police Sergeant Greg Kellogg, advising that the day's event should be canceled.
Kellogg had received a phone call complaint with concern about the Easter Egg Drive-thru as his shift began at 6 a.m. Kellogg informed the club that this was the first and only complaint the department had received. Upon receiving the complaint, Kellogg then reached out to officials at the Genesee County Health Department.
After conferring, the health department determined that the event should not be held (due to social-distancing protocols prompted by the coronavirus pandemic).
On Monday, April 13th, the club reached out to the Genesee County Health Department for clarification. Sarah Balduf, Environmental Health director for Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments, responded via email.
In the email response, she stated [I based my decision on Governor Cuomo's "New York State on PAUSE" Executive Order: Specifically, points 2 and 3 of his 10-point plan: 2-Nonessential gatherings of individuals of any size for any reason (e.g., parties, celebrations or other social events) are canceled or postponed at this time; 3-Any concentration of individuals outside their home must be limited to workers providing essential services, and social distancing should be practiced.]
The Rotary of Club of Le Roy would like to apologize to those agencies and individuals affected by the decision of the club to hold and then cancel the event. It was not the club’s intention to break any or part of Governor Cuomo’s executive order but to promote hope and goodwill in the community.
The club would like to thank the Le Roy businesses and organizations that contributed and sponsored the project. Also, the club would like to thank Mayor Rogers and the Village Board for supporting the event.
The Rotary Club of Le Roy wants to assure the community that the candy will be safely stored until a time when the candy can be carefully distributed.
