Thousands Attend Dawn Services; Bomb Scare Closes 3 Monuments

Thousands of people got up early Sunday for Easter sunrise services, while others worked to feed the elderly and New York City’s 5th Avenue became a promenade of spring fashions.

In the nation’s capital, hundreds of visitors were evacuated from three monuments after an anonymous caller made two bomb threats. No explosives were found.

Police officers with bomb-sniffing dogs combed the Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial and Lincoln Memorial for explosives after the threats, U.S. Park Police Lt. Matt Hall said. He said that his office received two threatening telephone calls about five minutes apart late in the morning.

At Georgia’s Stone Mountain, just east of Atlanta, warm temperatures and a brilliant, cloudless sunrise brought out about 25,000 people for the 53rd Easter sunrise service at the 700-foot-high granite peak, park officials said.

Thousands of people turned out to enjoy bright sunshine and temperatures in the 70s at New York City’s annual Easter Parade on 5th Avenue, immortalized in song by Irving Berlin and Judy Garland and featuring the latest spring fashions.

Another sort of parade took place in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie: a Mardi Gras-style procession for hundreds of handicapped children from the city and four surrounding parishes. Eight flatbed trucks were turned into Easter floats, from which the children tossed candy and other favors.

Bruce (Daddy) Randolph, a Denver restaurant owner who feeds thousands for free on Thanksgiving and Christmas, sponsored his annual Easter egg hunt in Denver’s City Park. City police officers spent the morning hiding about 20,000 eggs colored by Randolph and volunteers.