LAPORTE — Hundreds of smiling children raced out to start gathering 5,000 eggs dropped from a helicopter Saturday, April 19, as well as 10,000 eggs that were already on the ground.
Less than 20 minutes later, all of the plastic eggs had been picked up and started being cracked open for the various prizes inside.
Lydia Grott, a 13-year-old Union Mills resident, found small pieces of candy in the eggs from her basket along with a ticket to be redeemed later for an undisclosed prize ranging from cash, games, toys and bicycles.
“It’s really fun,” she said.
She came with her mother, Gloria Grott, who also brought her four grandchildren, ages 5, 7, 11 and 12.
The Easter egg hunt at the LaPorte County Fairgrounds was put on by Bethany Lutheran Church.
The LaPorte church has a hunt every year, but this was the first time it featured a helicopter egg drop.
The hype may have sextupled the size of this year’s crowd, estimated Pastor Dennis Meyer, who said attendance was up from the average 250 in past years to about 1,500.
“We just want everybody to have a very, very happy Easter and feel that God loves them and experience that love and know that it’s free,” he said. “Free for all people.”
The crowd was kept several hundred feet away until all of the eggs finished dropping from the slow-moving helicopter passing over the hunt area at low altitude.
What followed was sort of a stampede of children leaving many parents and family members in the dust.
Still, it was much safer than the iconic Thanksgiving turkey drop from the 1978 episode of the TV show “WKRP in Cincinnati.”
“This is awesome,” said Donna Nieman of Michigan City.
She and her husband, Matt, enjoyed seeing the kids rushing by as they stayed behind to watch their 2-year-old granddaughter, Lindsey, reach down for eggs and place them into her basket.
Cody Duncan of LaPorte brought his children: 8-year-old Scarlett, 2-year-old Kylo and 1-year-old Kalia.
“It’s pretty great,” he said. “The kids seem to love it.”
Megan Heslin of LaPorte was far from the only one who had never before seen eggs fall from a helicopter.
She and her fiancé, Austin, and their children, Stella, 5, and Jayden, 1, also enjoyed the free pancake breakfast before the hunt.
“It’s super cool,” she said. “Lots of fun.”
There was another helicopter drop of 5,000 plastic eggs during the afternoon for a church-sponsored hunt strictly for adults.
The cash prizes in those eggs were larger and included two eggs worth $1,000 apiece, said Carrie Garwood, a church member and coordinator of the events.
A helicopter drop was not part of the festivities that evening for a glow-in-the-dark hunt for teenagers.
Garwood said there were 40,000 pre-filled eggs, along with $5,000 worth of cash and prizes, for the three hunts combined.
The children’s hunt was free while there was a charge of $5 for the teenage hunt and $10 for the adult hunt.
There was also food and beverages available for purchase.
Garwood said the proceeds are going toward helping local first responders and the Slicer Champions, a mentoring program for students at LaPorte High School.
“Bethany is always looking at ways to give back to the community,” she said, “and there’s no better time to do that than Easter weekend.”
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