Lethbridge Airshow flies high
By Lethbridge Herald on August 1, 2022.
Herald photo by Al Beeber
Visitors walk past one of the planes that was part of the static display at the Lethbridge International Airshow Sunday. The display featured mostly civilian craft due to the lack of military planes available due to world conflict.Justin Seward – LETHBRIDGE HERALD
The Lethbridge Airshow brought in thousands of people over the weekend and was seen as an overall success.
Lethbridge’s Mic Thiessen had his Kit Fox STI at the airshow.
“It’s just fun to bring out airplanes out ,” said Thiessen.
“People come and stop by and they see what’s available for the recreational flyer and that you can have a lot of fun with airplanes.”
Thiessen thought the atmosphere was fantastic with it being the first show in five years.
“Everybody’s excited to be back here and they were worried about the long drive in,” he said.
“But when you have a big crowd like this, I guess that’s to be expected. We found everybody here to be in good spirits and enjoying the show.”
Gordon Lowe attended the event with his co-pilot Darryl Wolter and their 1943 Stearman PT-17 and 2005 Maule M7 235C and what Lowe enjoys about airshows is the people coming up and looking at the airplanes.
“The kids eyes are just like saucers and so you spend a little time and maybe set them inside the airplane and they’re just pumped and then decided they want to be a pilot someday,” said Lowe.
Wolter said there’s a lot of camaraderie in the aviation community.
“I think everybody supports each other and we look out for one another if we have a problem with an airplane,” he said.
Airshow Association president Dallas Harty said it was an absolutely incredible weekend.
“We spent the week getting ready for Saturday and Sunday and in no way shape or form did we ever expect what we got yesterday (Saturday),” said Harty.
“The crowd was absolutely amazing — one of the biggest … I’m guessing probably the second or third largest day we’ve had in the history of our airshow. We’re guessing there were 14,000 to 15,000 people here yesterday. It was absolutely amazing.”
The show featured numerous flying demonstrations capped off at the end of each show with a performance by a CF-18 fighter jet which roared above the skies of Lethbridge.
Some onlookers Sunday watched the CF-18 from their vehicles parked just south of Popson Park which offered a good view of the jet fighter.
Interest was so strong in the show that lineups to get into the grounds on Saturday had traffic backed up considerably. Police acted as traffic control at the entrance both days ensuring a smooth flow.
The show offered much more than demonstrations, though including static displays of personal aircraft and a huge food area with numerous trucks to satisfy different appetites. A beer garden was also open both days and a tent was onsite where people could get sunscreen, which was much needed for the two blistering hot days.
20-19
That was the worst Lethbridge airshow I’ve ever attended. Maybe the kids were impressed but most adults I talked to were not.
The $25 admission was a total ripoff. The ticket wickets moved at the speed of molasses hence the long lineups and backed up traffic. There should have been 2X the number of ticket wickets.
Take away the cars/hotrods, most of which had more horsepower than 95% of the aircraft, and all you got was the opportunity to wait an hour in the sun to pay $10 for a $4 burger, a helicopter they dragged out of some scrapyard, some old 2 passenger stubble hoppers and one plane that didn’t even have wings. The Neuron booth had nothing to do with aircraft at all so who was the idjit that invited them? No Snowbirds, no skydivers, no wing walkers but who needs them when you’ve got overpriced beer.
Never again! I wouldn’t blame anybody if they print their own admission ticket next year to claw back what was stolen from them this year.
Glad you enjoyed it whiner. Next time organize it yourself.