By NOAH WORTHAM | Staff Writer

ALABASTER – Cultivate Church in Alabaster will soon continue its unique tradition this year with its annual helicopter Easter egg drop.

Cultivate Church will host this year’s Great Big Helicopter Easter Egg Drop on Saturday, April 8 at Veterans Park in Alabaster.

“This is our way of saying, ‘Jesus has been a blessing to us, and because of that, we love our community and want to be a blessing to our community,’” Lead Pastor Brandon Mathews said.

The event is completely free and will offer a variety of activities including egg hunts, Easter bunny pictures, food, candy, bouncy houses and a special needs sensory area.

“We’re not looking for anything from people,” Mathews said. “We just want something for them. So, we hope this is a gift to our community for free, fun, safe (and) excellent Easter activity that families can enjoy together.”

During the event, attendees can enjoy free grilled hot dogs and bottled water and listen to music from the stage.

Interpreters will be available to assist Spanish-speaking residents at the registration table.

Mathews said that last year’s event had about 20,000 people from across Shelby County at the event.

Since there is limited parking and capacity at the event, the church is encouraging attendees to carpool to ensure that as many people as possible can attend the event.

Those interested in attending can pre-register for the event online.

“We want it to be as quick and easy for families to get in and limit as (many) lines and frustrations as we can,” Mathews said.

Kids will be provided wristbands that are color coded to each age group to ensure that no older kids are on the field at the same time as the younger, he said.

There will be an egg hunt for ages 0-3 and egg drops for three different age groups including, 4-5, 6-8 and 9-11.

Gates will open for the event at 9 a.m. and the egg hunt for ages 0-3 will begin at 10:30 a.m. with the first helicopter drop happening soon after.

Those interested in learning more about Easter events at Cultivate Church may visit online at Theeggdrop.tv.