WASHINGTON, April 16 (UPI) -- It's mostly parades, egg hunts and Easter baskets marking the holiday despite some U.S. cities enforcing a secular route, a Washington-based group says.
The National Retail Federation expected 76 percent of U.S. citizens to celebrate Easter Sunday.
The tradition is carried out in epic proportions at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia, where 10,000 children searched for 300,000 Easter eggs -- a Guinness World Record.
The Washington Times reports the sweets are big too -- Pennsylvania-based manufacturer Just Born, maker of the marshmallow Peeps, estimates a billion consumed on Easter.
The National Confectioners Association said 90 million chocolate bunnies were made for Easter 2006.
Although parades are still a staple, cities in New York, Arkansas, California, Missouri and New Mexico are including costumed dogs in their street tours, the Times said.
St. Paul, Minn.; Milford, Conn.; and Alpharetta, Ga., all banned Easter celebrations from public sites in deference to the separation of church and state.
And Asian-American groups in San Diego banded together in protest of Target stores "Easter Haiku" greeting cards featuring bunnies with buck teeth and coolie hats.
