HOULTON, Maine — The weather may have not cooperated with organizers of the third annual Wings and Wheels event at Houlton’s International Airport Saturday, but it did not seem to dampen the spirits of the many volunteers and spectators.
Neither Vacationland Skydiving, nor the Jim Parker Airshows were able to attend the event because of the weather.
“We were all very disappointed in morning when we saw it was raining early in the morning,” said Jane Torres, executive director for the chamber. “The weather forecast was way off. When I woke at 2 in the morning and saw it was raining, it was simply too late for us to postpone.”
Torres explained the skydiving company needed to have a higher cloud ceiling in order to send tandem jumpers from an airplane. The Jim Parker Show was unable to attend as the owner was flying from New Hampshire and was unable to secure two landing spots to refuel as most of the state’s airports were closed.
“The jumpers needed a 10,000-foot ceiling in order to go up,” Torres said. “Because of the weather, so many other people could not fly in either. Every single person that was there, however, kicked in and did something extra. Nobody gave us a hard time about it.”
The event serves as one of the major fundraisers for the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce, but this year’s difficulties resulted in a net loss for the group. However, because of the reduced activities, Chamber organizers first dropped the price of admission before ultimately opening the gates for free by noontime.
Jerry Wilcox brought an airplane engine from a Grumman Avenger bomber plane, and fired the motor up several times throughout the day. Another popular attraction was John Gattis of the Border Patrol with his narcotics-sniffing dog Zoley.
