FLEMING - Joanne Mathews knows a thing or two about kids.

And that's good because the 40 children gathered on Saturday inside the pavilion behind Fleming Firehouse No. 2 could barely contain themselves as they struggled to stand still before the annual egg hunt.

Holding brightly colored baskets or bags and broken into groups according to age, they eagerly awaited the sound of Mathew's whistle to signify the mad dash for the golden egg.

Standing on a picnic bench, Mathews addressed the parents. "We're trying to give everybody a chance," she said, "so the big ones don't overrun the little ones."

In a commanding voice, she then spoke to the children: "All right? Don't snatch eggs from each other. No snatching eggs!"

She grabbed the whistle hanging from a cord around her neck. She blew. "Go!"

Mathews, of Owasco, who retired in 1990 after 16 years of driving a school bus in Auburn for Golden Arrow, knew the whistle would exercise some control over the kids.

The egg hunt has been held for about eight years and is sponsored as a public service project by the members and the ladies' auxiliary of VFW

Post 1071 in Fleming. Donations also support the hunt.

"This is part of the VFW's work, plus working with the hospitals and working with the veterans, trying to help the vets out," said James Carter of Owasco, the Fleming post's commander and an Army veteran of World War II. The post spends about $100 on the event, he said.

Carter's great-granddaughter, Erica Colegrove, 10, found 27 eggs and was having a hard time deciding which prize she wanted. She said she's excited about Easter in part because relatives bring her three or more baskets that are delivered to their homes. "It's cool," she said of the hunt. "It's fun."

Amber Townsend, 11, of Auburn, located the golden egg. "It's like, first I was just taking my time, just looking around," she said. "Then there was a big pile and I just kicked it and I found the golden egg."

Amber's sister, Cortney, 7, collected 12 candy-filled eggs.

The golden egg fetched $5, but "every child goes home with a prize," Mathews said. The house paid two cents for every egg found, plus the children got to select a prize from a long table brimming with stuffed animals, puppets, dominoes, small games, sidewalk chalk, flying disks and other toys.

Parents consider the event especially attractive because it is a hunt with carefully controlled competition, minimal chaos and a small-town atmosphere.

"It's the best egg hunt around," said Beth Weaver, of Fleming, whose daughter Nicole, 9, participated.

Weaver's sister, Roberta Daddato, whose 11-year-old daughter, Samantha, was in the hunt, concurred. "It's nice and small and everybody knows everyone," said Daddato, also a Fleming resident.