Richard Pearl
Twelve months of required planning squeezed into six months….an event that required 100+ volunteers…an expensive undertaking that was started with absolutely no capital and no assurance that the bills could be paid. AirFest 2016 was not a classically sound business model, but it worked – primarily due to the extraordinary efforts of the volunteers.
AirFest 2016 had its roots in a drive by Bill Turpie and Richard Pearl to put on an air event in 2013. The timing wasn’t right at that point as the required cash couldn’t be raised. Fast-forward to 2014 when the EAA and LRAA and others put on a no-budget AirPort Open House. This was followed up with another success with the EAA’s Ford Tri-Motor event.
As good as the previous efforts were, the envisioned AirFest was taking the proposed event to another whole level: a semi-formal dinner/dance, a hot air balloon rise, a car show, a youth aerospace expo, lots of food and merchandise vendors, and a ramp-full of invited display aircraft, some of whom would require funding for special fly-bys. How many people would show up? What was the best pricing model? How to do the required regional outreach for attendees? How many food vendors were needed? How to design a safe ramp and incoming aircraft schedule? How to get a robust selection of display-type aircraft? And those were just the opening questions.
“If you build it, they will come” was the operating philosophy of co-directors Richard Pearl and Bob Butera. “A wing and a Prayer” was also appropriate because it soon became apparent that we were talking about an event that would cost $20,000+ to put on and there was zero front-money.
The first order of business was to rope in help: Rocky Green as Ground Boss, Tony Kasabasich as Assistant Air Boss and Air Communicator, a professional (paid) Air Boss, a professional (paid) media outreach company, and a sponsorship chair to get funds (Clark Osterhout).
Two months from A-Day, we started reaching out to the Chapter for volunteers. We know that, based on projections of a full display ramp plus scores of incoming fly-in pilots, it would take about 50 “ramp-side” volunteers to keep everything safe and running smoothly. As expected, the Club stepped up. The Event also need another 50+ volunteers to work the attendee intake, vendor, and information sections.
The Friday night dinner/dance was a resounding success, with a capacity-reached limit of 193 paying customers in Byron Maynard’s transformed hangar. It was a full Hollywood treatment: red carpet entry flanked by two Thunder Mustangs, professional photographers, sound and light by Jeremy Machado (BoBo Printing), and a great swing orchestra.
Late to bed and early to rise as the Hot Air Balloon rise started with and envelop inflation at 5:30 AM. The Chapter put on a Pancake Breakfast, served 230 meals and made a nice profit for the day. Aircraft started arriving about 8:00 AM and continued through 9:45 AM, when the airspace was “closed” for the opening ceremony. The Beale Honor Guard, Danny Hull singing America and the National Anthem, the parachute drop, and the fly-over by two Beale AFB T-38 jets. Grand Marshall Clarence “Bud” Anderson was introduced to the crowd.
There were 50+ invited display aircraft on the ramp, including many LHM aircraft. Orchestrated fly-bys were performed by the Red Star (CJ-6), Beech Boys, Ravens, Thunder Mustangs, T-6’s, a T-28, and the P-51.
We estimate that there were 4,500 attendees on the field over the course of the day. Lots of kids, many of who went over to the Youth Aerospace Expo for hands-on fun and learning. Between the attendees, the volunteers, the display and fly-in pilots, the vendors, and City personnel, we think that the total crowd was > 5,000 people.
Everyone seemed to have a great time, and that was the objective: promote aviation and promote the value of an airport for us to enjoy. Were there glitches, sure, but they were most likely unnoticed by anyone not involved in the event. It was a great event, it was a safe event, and the Club made it happen!
