On April 3, 2026, the City of Detroit conducted, at two municipal parks within the city limits — Patton Park on the southwest side and Balduck Park on the east side — a children's marshmallow drop. The drops, each consisting of approximately 5,000 standard-sized marshmallows released from a helicopter at an altitude described in the city's press release as "low," were well-attended and generated regional media coverage. A Detroit Free Press photograph distributed by the Associated Press shows a wide, flat meadow, approximately 250 feet by 400 feet, with no overhead obstructions of any kind.

Helen Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Willa Mackey, reviewing the photograph at her desk Tuesday, April 14, thought it "looked like fun." She brought the idea to the Chamber's Wednesday board meeting. The board voted 7-1 in favor. The sole dissenting vote was cast by board member Margit Volcker (proprietor, Volcker's Apothecary), who abstained on procedural grounds related to her partial ownership of the East Meadow's adjacent property. She did not object to the substance of the drop.

The East Meadow, Ms. Mackey proposed, was "the obvious site." The East Meadow is a public meadow within Unicoi State Park, located approximately 2.4 miles north of downtown Helen, adjacent to the Unicoi State Park Lodge and the park's main parking area. It is approximately 3.2 acres in footprint.

It is also, per Georgia State Parks' 2021 canopy survey, 70% covered by Eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, averaging approximately 80 feet in height, with dense needle coverage year-round.

The Chamber's motion, as adopted, did not address the canopy.

The pilot

Gainesville Aviation's chief pilot, Terry Lemmon, was contracted Thursday, April 16, to perform the drop. Per the Chamber's purchase order PO-2026-04-16-3, the contract specifies: a Bell 206B-III Jet Ranger helicopter; a 30-minute flight window between 10:45 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. on Saturday, May 2; an altitude of 150 feet above ground level; and "the release of approximately 8,000 single-serving marshmallows (individually wrapped)." The purchase order lists the release location as "the East Meadow coordinates, Unicoi State Park, Helen, GA, as provided by the Chamber."

It does not describe the East Meadow's vertical characteristics.

Mr. Lemmon, contacted by telephone at the Gainesville Regional Airport Friday afternoon, said he had been provided with the GPS coordinates of the release point but had not, as of Friday, conducted a site visit or reviewed overhead imagery.

"I have flown agricultural drops in north Georgia for 23 years," Mr. Lemmon said. "I'm familiar with hemlock canopy in a general sense. I assume the Chamber has identified a clearing."

Asked whether he was aware that, per the 2021 Georgia State Parks canopy survey, the East Meadow's clearing sub-feature — the portion of the meadow that is uncovered by hemlock — is approximately 14 yards wide and 40 yards long, a footprint smaller than half of an NCAA regulation basketball court, Mr. Lemmon paused and then said: "That is narrower than I had assumed."

Asked whether a 14-yard-wide clearing, beneath an 80-foot hemlock canopy, could receive 8,000 marshmallows at 150 feet altitude without the majority of those marshmallows landing in the canopy, Mr. Lemmon said: "I would need to model it."

Park response

Unicoi Park Ranger Dierks Covington, reached Friday afternoon at the park's ranger station, said that he had been informed of the event by the Chamber on Thursday and was, as of Friday, "working through the implications."

"The Chamber did not, in advance of its vote, consult the park," Mr. Covington said. "The park has, as a matter of courtesy, received the after-the-fact notice. The park is reviewing the after-the-fact notice."

Asked whether the park would permit the drop under the currently proposed parameters, Mr. Covington declined to comment. He noted that the park's position on any aerial release event would "require review by the division's aviation-operations coordinator," and that such review would, per the division's published schedule, typically require between two and three weeks.

The event is scheduled for May 2. It is April 18.

Contingency

Helen Chamber staff were asked Friday whether the Chamber had a contingency plan in the event that the majority of the 8,000 marshmallows are retained by the hemlock canopy. Ms. Mackey, after a pause, said: "The canopy is, I am given to understand, deciduous in some seasons."

Eastern hemlock is not deciduous.

Ms. Mackey was subsequently informed of this by a Chamber intern. She indicated, upon being so informed, that the Chamber would "assess our options over the weekend."

The drop remains on the Chamber's public calendar for May 2.