Competition determines who has hardest eggs

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (AP) -- Another in a very long series of Peters Hollow Egg Fights is history.

The competition -- which locals say began in 1823 -- isn't nearly as messy as the name might imply.

During the event in Elizabethton in the eastern Tennessee hills, competitors in three age groups tap their hard boiled eggs together until one breaks. When one person's egg is unbroken, that person wins the event.

Every Easter Sunday, people sit in a circle in Norman Peters' back yard for the competition.

Local historians say the event began nearly two centuries ago over a discussion between two farmers at a county store about whose chickens laid the hardest eggs.

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