Learning lessons from the air show

“That’s the word that’s being used and there’s no other word to describe it,” said a jubilant Greg Moulaison, executive director for the show.

“I’m totally ecstatic with the participation of not only the performers but with how the people in the community came forward to support it.”

An estimated crowd of 6,000 over the two days topped the 4,000 hoped for in planning figures. Saturday’s drizzle and cloud cover kept the planes on the ground, but skies were filled on Sunday with Snowbirds, Harvards, Skyhawks, aerobatic displays, a Griffin chopper and a CF-18. Saturday tickets were honoured at Sunday’s show.

Although Moulaison says there is nothing in terms of the overall package that organizers would change, they did learn many small lessons.

“We did have an issue with traffic not only because of people coming later, but also we could have used more lanes. That’s one thing we will change,” said Moulaison.

Traffic was backed up from the Haley Road airfield entrance onto Highway 103 as far as the Greenville Road, and down Parade Street to Main.

“Also we definitely need more concessions to meet the needs of the people. We need to make changes in how we get people into the facility and we would need to aggressively pursue a larger static display,” said Moulaison.

Will there be another air show?

“The bottom line is we’ll set back and we’ll assess it and make the decisions in the future as to which direction we are going to go in,” said Moulaison, who added that two to three years between shows has been discussed.

He says they can’t say yet whether they have recouped the investment.

“We are still in the process of collecting money and paying bills so it’s hard to give an estimate,” said Moulaison.

Funding for the show was earlier estimated between $150,000-$200,000. A portion of this is expected from municipal partners.