A church in Illinois is expecting to have more than 1,500 people attend its annual helicopter Easter egg drop.
Faith Lutheran Church of Aurora, which has around 500 members, will host its 15th annual Easter egg drop event on the Saturday before Easter.
Pastor Rob Douglas told The Christian Post that the origins of the helicopter egg drop event came, in part, in response to a tragic helicopter crash that occurred in Chicago in 2008.
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“We hosted the memorial service at our church and allowed them to place a memorial headstone on our property. The family and friends gather annually to hold a service of remembrance,” Douglas said.
“All involved were grateful for the chance to have the service and place the memorial, and asked if there was anything [they] could do in return. I shared that I always wanted to host a helicopter Easter egg drop event at our church and the flight company, Air Angels, was kind enough to donate the helicopter for the first three years of the event.”
According to Douglas, while the first egg drop event, held in 2009, had around 200 attendees, the annual gathering now draws around 1,500 guests.
In addition to the Easter egg drop, the event will also feature games, music, assorted prizes, bounce houses and food trucks.
Douglas sees the event as “our opportunity to throw a party for our community and build connections,” with people getting “the chance to come onto our campus” and “experience a warm welcome and hospitality from our 40 volunteers.”
“We have information booths for our kids and student ministries. We extend invitations to join us for Easter services. We play Christian music, and our children’s ministry team performs and leads our guests in top kids Christian songs,” Douglas told CP.
“We then include all guests in subsequent emails for our kids ministry spring and summer events, including [Vacation Bible School]. This event is a part of our ‘come and see’ strategy.”
In recent years, other churches have also hosted helicopter Easter egg drop events to spotlight the opportunity for community and spiritual growth they provide.
In 2022, for example, the multi-site nondenominational 7 Hills Church in Kentucky hosted multiple egg drops after services on Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, dropping 200,000 Easter eggs.
