Air show might be back for this year

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on January 14, 2023.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

The Lethbridge International Airshow may take wing for a second straight year if it gets council approval.

A presentation to be made Wednesday to the Economic Standing Policy Committee of city council by airshow president Dallas Harty says organizers want to begin staging the show on odd-numbered years moving forward.

The SPC meeting will start at 1:30 p.m. in council chambers.

The airshow returned to the city in 2022 after a four-year hiatus and attracted more than 15,000 attendees for the two-day event.

If a 2023 airshow is approved, it will be staged July 29-30.

The report states while there were issues with traffic on the opening day of last year’s show, a new traffic plan was devised and there were no problems experienced on the second day.

Organizers also had to overcome the obstacle of being told by the International Conference of Air Shows that the event’s airboss was neither qualified nor certified to work the show so a new one had to be brought on board, which was done within eight hours of hearing from the ICAS.

The report says moving the show to odd-numbered years in the future will increase access to assets for the event.

“We will have a bigger window of opportunity in terms of visitors since instead of competing with 7-8 other air shows we will only be competing with 2-3,” says the report.

Organizers say they’ve been assured by Canadian and American military personnel that they would work to provide both demonstration and static assets for a show this year. The show also has “an impressive lineup of crowd favourite civilian aerobatic performers” lined up this year.

Organizers will be asking the City for $17,500 in funding for the show.

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