Five-year-old Alex Wajda of Romeoville says he’s all in when it comes to going on an Easter egg hunt and gathering all he can find.
“I’m going to go get some. I think I can get about 20 eggs,” Alex said Saturday during the annual Easter egg hunt at Faith Lutheran Church in Aurora, which included a helicopter drop of some of the eggs.
Alex’s mother, Michelle Wajda, was perhaps even more enthusiastic about the event.
“We have two boys here actually,” she said. “This is our eighth year. The kids just love it and the adults love it too. It’s a helicopter – how can you not? We usually get about two dozen eggs and we all have so much fun.”
The church at 3000 Liberty St. was a sea of kids and parents who had to register in advance for the event that the Rev. Rob Douglas said has been going on for 14 years.
“Every year there is a segment of our church that goes, ‘Are we doing that again? Yeah.’ There has always been a helicopter drop even though we’ve had to change vendors like about three times,” Douglas said before the event.
Douglas said on average, about 1,400 participants attend each year.
Church volunteers helped fill nearly 14,000 plastic eggs, he said, including about 50 golden eggs that contained special prizes.
The helicopter itself dropped 2,000 eggs at the event, the limit that the service provider would allow, organizers said.
Other attractions Saturday included a photo opportunity with the Easter Bunny, snacks and other food items and more. Kids could also enjoy a bounce house.
“The thing about this is that it’s more than an Easter egg drop, it’s a church community event,” Douglas said. “People last year – the drop is at 11 and people are done with the egg hunt by 11:30 – but about 50% hung around for the next hour and a half because we had food and music going and bounce houses and the bunny line was huge. There were like 300 people getting their picture taken with the Easter Bunny.”
Diana Nawrocki of Aurora was working as a volunteer at the event and said this year’s crowd seemed very enthusiastic, adding that “the church likes reaching out to the community and offering a fun event and celebrating Easter.”
“We love coming out for this and love volunteering for it,” she said.
A total of three age groups were allowed to rush out for the eggs, including groups for kids up to 5 years old, 6 through 9 years old and 10 through 12 years old.
Chris Moy of Naperville was wearing some rabbit ears on his head and came with his 2-year-old daughter Callie, who was among the first to dash out to the egg-laden field just north of the church.
“We tried this last year but it was more carry her around,” Moy said of his daughter. “She’s definitely here to look. But I think she knows what she’s doing. She’s been practicing in the back yard. We did a little homework.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
