Times Advocate, 1994-06-01, Page 10Page 10 T(mes-Advocate, June 1, 1994
VIEW{ INI)F:I__
Grand
Bend
hosts
second
Air
Show
Crowds of 50,000
fail to materialize
for two-day event
GRAND BEND - It all
came off without a hitch.
Nineteen acts over two and
a half hours, the Grand
Bend Air Show, both over
the main beach and the
static display in Huron
Park, was an event that
didn't disappoint visitors.
Unfortunately, organizers
were left wondering why
the two-day event failed to
attract even as much
attention as the Tuesday
evening air show two years
ago.
With over 50,000 people
expected to attend the
event, actual numbers were
far below that estimate.
Only about 3,000 people
arrived for Saturday's show
under variable skies.
Sunday's attendance was
considerably better, but
organizers closed off
unrequired parking sites.
OPP officers on duty for
crowd control at the Huron
Park static display had
enough time on their hands
to watch the passing
aircraft.
Councillor Bill Uniac,
volunteering during the
weekend events, said with
the weather cooperating
Sunday, he was surprised
more people didn't attend.
Tom Johnston, of Tom
Johnston Marketing, said
he wasn't sure what failed
to trigger more interest in
the Air Show. He
wondered if the $10 charge
of admittance "buttons"
might be too high, but he
also suggested that the lack
of a premier act like the
Snowbirds could have been
a cause.
Other possible causes
suggested by other
organizers included
corning too soon after the
busy Victoria Day
weekend, or being too
close to the London and
Hamilton Air Shows.
"We're going to have to
get together to find out
what we didn't do right,"
said Debbie Crown, one of
the Air Show organizers.
She added that even
though she hadn't seen
official attendance figures,
one of the possible
obstacles to getting more
spectators might have been
that "maybe two locations
wasn't a good idea".
Whatever, the problem,
those who did arrive for
the show enjoyed the
display of military and
commercial aircraft, some
acrobatics, and even a
couple of novelty acts,
such as dropping a car
outfitted as an OPP cruiser
from a Huey helicopter
into the Lake. Organizers
assure the car was stripped
of fluids and
environmental hazards
before the stunt, and had
the approval of the
Ministry of the
Environment. The car was
salvaged from the lake
after both shows.
•
A 8-25 Mitchell bomber takes off over a misty Centralia -area landscape on its
way to Grand Bend for the D -Day tribute finale to the Air Show Saturday. Sun -
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44CF•41
:re*
1:40 v‘,4
Parachutists from the Grand Bend SWOOP club kicked off the
air show with landings right on the beach beside the spec-
tators.
day, the tribute featured the famous Lancaster bomber.
Story and photographs by Adrian Harte
Times -Advocate Editor
44
In a contrast of old and older, a World War I bi-plane fitghter
Dakota on the Huron Park runway. The First World War aircraft
ing the famous Fokker triplane of the Red Baron for the crowds on
replica taxis in front of a DC-3simulated a dogfight, includ-
the Grand Bend beach.
A novelty act at the air show,
a Huey helicopter "tows" a
car reported double-parked
on Grand Bend's Main Street.
The car turns out to be an
OPP cruiser, which, to the de-
light of the crowd, was
dropped straight into Lake
Huron.
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