SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — What some people in the community have called "Egg Gate" was at the center of a fiery meeting Tuesday in Fulton County. What happened, or didn't happen, at that event prompted a new resolution from the City of South Fulton Council.
11Alive first reported an April 15th Easter egg hunt at a South Fulton park never happened with differing accounts from organizers and city officials. South Fulton Mayor khalid kamau said in an earlier interview he thought the event being shut down was due to ongoing issues between city council and him.
"I believe that a lot of this is retaliation on behalf of the police chief, whom I've had to have referred to the GBI for investigation," kamau said.
City council members told 11Alive at the Tuesday meeting they had nothing to do with the decision to close the Easter egg hunt.
Creshonna Thomas Kemp made her voice heard at the city council meeting.
“I’m tired of looking at all the different meetings and coming aboard all the shenanigans that’s going on amongst out city council," Kemp said during the meeting. "Adult shenanigans need to stay amongst adults.”
Kemp said her eight- and 12-year-old kids were among the many children turned away from the Easter egg hunt at Creel Park.
“That’s disappointing," Kemp said. "Children were out there crying, and I really don’t understand how you can block a public park.”
Old National Entertainment and South Fulton's mayor organized the event. Shay Pyron, a volunteer for the event, said 13,000 Easter eggs are now sitting in storage.
“This is one of the largest Black communities in Georgia. Bringing in events like this, it sheds a light on the city to let people know we are doing good things in the city. This annual event has been going on for four years," Pyron said.
Organizers said their event was originally approved for April 9 but then cancelled, and they requested it to be rescheduled for April 15.
“We were told that the city apologized, but due to inclement weather that they were going to cancel the event but that we could put it on at another time," Pyron said.
Ternard Taylor, the city's parks and recreation director, said it was actually a city-sanctioned Easter egg hunt cancelled on April 9, and he never got the application for Old National Entertainment's event.
“I never received it, so you can never cancel what is never approved. I want to be very clear," Taylor said.
Much of the meeting included heated exchanges between City of South Fulton Councilwoman Helen Z. Willis and the mayor, who promoted the event.
“I do want to apologize to the children because they were the ones who were hurt," Willis said.
The council voted to change how special events are handled in the future.
“Going forward, the resolution established today is that any major special events have to come before the city council for approval, and then we will make sure everything is in place," Willis said.
Willis said she wants to work with the park director to put together a checklist of what needs to be done to get an event approved to avoid a situation like this in the future.