You Know It's Spring When They Bring Out the Eggs in Peters Hollow

Every Easter for 184 years has been celebrated in these parts just a little differently than in most other places. That's right: after nearly two centuries, the annual Peters Hollow Egg Fight remains a strong family tradition here in Stoney Creek.

No, there are no spurs attached to eggs that are then made to fight in a ring while folks throw their money down on the strongest future chicken. People don't hurl rotten eggs at each other from behind barns and trees out in the north 40. Instead, contestants tap their brightly colored, hard-boiled eggs against those of their opponents to see which one will crack. It ends, sometimes hours later, when only one person remains with an uncracked egg.

Competitions are separate for kids and adults. "I know how to fight effs because my daddy taught me", said Carson Peters, aged 3. People come from all over the country and bring hundreds of eggs with them, making the event a family reunion. This year, due to the cold, the event took place at the Volunteer Fire Department building at Hwy 91 and Liberty Hollow. Usually, though, it takes place up Peters Hollow Road.

I shake my head a little at the idea of spending so much time and effort boiling and dying eggs, just to whack them together. But when I think about the strength of family that keeps a tradition going without interruption for 184 years, I can't say a bad thing about it. Our mail lady, Joanne, is a Peters. She told me earlier this year that you don't need to be a Peters to enjoy the egg fight, but we have not gone, yet. Just knowing it is right up the road from us makes me feel pretty good, even so. It seems the ties that bind these folks are a lot stronger than the shell of an egg.