By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

A new Alabaster church is planning to drop thousands of plastic Easter eggs from a helicopter onto the Thompson High School football field on April 7 in preparation for Easter Sunday the next day.

Cultivate Church, which began meeting in the Alabaster home of Brandon and Jennifer Matthews last summer, will host the free event from 10 a.m.-noon at Larry Simmons Stadium off Thompson Road.

During the event, church officials will scatter eggs across the football field before dropping thousands more from a helicopter hovering over the stadium, Brandon Matthews said. In total, the event will involve about 20,000 plastic eggs.

“We wanted to do something that would give families a chance to have fun together. It’s also a perfect way for us to connect with the community, because it will draw a lot of attention,” Matthews said.

Event organizers will split the field into different sections for different ages, and will work to ensure each child gets about the same amount of candy, Matthews said.

“The eggs on the field will actually be empty. The kids can gather the eggs and exchange them for bags of candy,” he said.

The event will also feature prizes, moonwalks and more, Matthews said.

In the weeks leading up to the event, the Easter bunny will be making appearances around Alabaster wearing a Cultivate Church T-shirt. Church officials soon will be launching an event website at Theeggdrop.tv.