But the word is out: Eggbert is back this year. Devitt’s has resurrected him this season.
“Oh my God, Eggbert’s back,” said Jane Montano, of Middletown. The news sank in after she led her (granddaughter) Lilah before Eggbert on Sunday afternoon.
Ms. Montano came with her daughters, Megan Davis and Jane Marie Davis, who had visited Eggbert as children and were now bringing their own (children).
“They’re second-generation Eggbert fans,” Ms. Montano said, standing next to the egg as it greeted child after child by name.
As for the voice of the (mysterious) talking egg, the secret — and here’s the spoiler — is that it is equipped with a microphone, a speaker and a Devitt’s employee behind one-way glass nearby. On Sunday afternoon, it was a witty (retired) schoolteacher, one of three employees Devitt’s hired this season to work in shifts.
The children get name stickers at the entrance when their parents pay the $2 entry fee. But after walking through the various Christmas exhibits, the (petting) zoo, and waiting in the line — it’s nearly always long — they invariably forget that they have been name-tagged.
Mr. Devitt originally acquired the egg from the Cornell University area, where it had been used to promote the egg industry. He made it the (centerpiece) of his Christmas on the Farm attraction, which supposedly started after he began borrowing animals from a local farmer to help heat a greenhouse.
