An egg-citing challenge at the Jacobi Community Center

Dozens of children stared up in the sky Sunday afternoon at the Jacobi Community Center parking lot as they watched their homemade contraptions harboring eggs plummet to the ground during the town’s second annual egg drop challenge.

The event, put on by the Marblehead Fire Department and Recreation and Parks Department, has children try to create a device that can keep an egg from cracking when dropped from the top of a fire-truck ladder.

Unfortunately this year, one of the department’s ladder trucks was out of commission, so backup was needed, and the eggs were dropped from a JLG lift. However, the absence of a ladder truck for the drop challenge did not make it any less exciting.

More than 70 children entered the competition and made protective devices ranging from balloons to cereal boxes, pieces of foam, and even a soccer ball. Many of the eggs survived their leap of faith. Others were not so lucky.

Loud thuds when the devices smacked the concrete were a good indicator of the eggs’ fate, as a collective and deep “oooooo” came from the crowd. Many of the drops had both parents and children, like the eggs, cracking up.

Each participant was awarded with a small prize for taking part in the challenge, and those whose eggs survived the freefall were awarded with an egg trophy.

Members of the Fire Department, including Chief Jason Gilliland, Doug Knowles, and Greg Lydon dropped each device from the top of the lift and watched from above as they tried to toss them toward a colorful target drawn from chalk on the concrete.

According to Karla Strobel of the Recreation and Parks Department, who emceed Sunday’s event, the challenge was sold out. Strobel added that the event is open to anyone who wishes to participate, regardless of age.