Enjoy an 'Easter With Buster,' Long Island's chocolate Easter Bunny
Kamoi, 1, Tracey, Ethan, 13, and Travis Merrick, of Coram, take a photo with the Easter Bunny. Credit: Morgan Campbell
Sabrina Williams traveled from Harlem to Coram just to have her daughters photographed with a brown Easter Bunny named Buster.
“It makes you feel good when you are doing these kind of things when you have a brown bunny,” says Williams, 38, who works in customer service. “It makes the experience more personal.” In addition to taking photos, the rabbit and Williams' children, Tiana, 10, and Amya, 8, made a dancing TikTok video together. “I was kind of in awe,” Williams says. “The whole experience was actually great.”
Sisters Tiana, 10, and Amya, 8, Williams had their photos taken with a brown Easter Bunny this year in Coram. Credit: Philana Aiken
“Easter with Buster” — dubbed “your favorite chocolate bunny” — is open for photos through Easter Sunday, says owner and photographer Philana Aiken, who also runs a “Santa Your Way” experience with a Black Santa Claus during Christmas season. This is the second year that the bunny photos have been offered, she says.
Aikens says she didn't take her children to visit the Easter Bunny when they were small because she was more focused on the religious meaning of the holiday rather than the secular traditions. But she did notice the bunnies that were available. “You go to every mall, and they’re all the same white bunny,” she says. People of color should have a choice, she says. “Black, white, chocolate.”
Aiken’s children, Ashantiana Stevens, 19, and Jacob Stevens, 15, of Shirley, take turns wearing the bunny suit. “The Bunny is a fantastic job,” Ashantiana says. “We love playing with all the kids, giving them candy, making TikToks with them.”
Kimberly Lightsey, 26, of Bellport, took her 5-year-old son and 3-month-old daughter to have their photos taken with Buster. “I love the way she was interacting with my son, getting him to smile, helping him pose,” Lightsey says of Aiken.
Fifteen-minute photo sessions can be scheduled at easterwithbuster.square.site. Hours are Mondays through Fridays from noon to 7 p.m. Saturdays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Easter Sunday, when they will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
One photo with digital rights and one 4x6 print is $30; the most expensive option includes every photo with digital rights and five prints for $110. Walk-ins pay $5 per package less but aren’t guaranteed a particular slot, Aiken says. Photos are taken at Mott House, a community center in Coram.
MORE INFO: 68 Middle Country Rd., Coram; 631-572-7238.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
