Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — A much-anticipated Sesquicentennial event has been postponed due to lack of funding.
“The air show scheduled for June 20 has been postponed until June 2010,” said Scott Wardwell, manager of the Northern Maine Regional Airport.
Wardwell said the air show came about as part of the airport’s strategic planning process.
“It evolved through that process. We agreed the airport would facilitate the creation of the Air Show Committee. That didn’t mean we’d do it, just facilitate it,” explained Wardwell, noting, “One reason we hadn’t had one before now is we’ve had difficulty finding someone to chair the Committee.”
Wardwell said the Committee wasn’t established until last year and that fund-raising efforts got off to a late start but that much of the planning involved has been completed.
“Essentially, the airport safety stuff and FFA stuff is all done and can be carried over to next year,” said Wardwell. “When we first contacted the FFA we were told they have an air show coordinator headquartered in Portland. He was positive from the start and said Presque Isle was a wonderful place for a show — plenty of space for things like the F15 Strike Eagle. He was a lot of help. It’s clear he’s a lover of air shows.”
With much of the work completed, Wardwell said it came down to an issue of sponsorship.
“The city had put in $10,000. That sounds like a lot of money but a lot of air shows out there cost close to $100,000. We think we can do one for considerably less. The $10,000 initially buys the insurance for a show the level we were planning. For a program including something like the Strike Eagle, we essentially have to have an ‘air boss,’ who’s basically the air traffic controller for the day. We need someone who’s done that before, has experience. We’d have to pay him as well,” said Wardwell.
In addition to the insurance and paying an air traffic controller for the day, Wardwell said there are other expenses involved, including temporary bathroom facilities for the day, seating and more. All come at a price and therein lies the problem.
“Fund-raising began fairly late. We’d hoped to raise an additional $20,000 on top of the $10,000 we have. Organizers felt we could do a show for around $30,000,” said Wardwell.
Air Show Director Nelson Ketch recently sent out an e-mail explaining the Committee’s decision to postpone the show.
“Regretfully, the PI Air Show that was scheduled for June 20 has been postponed until at least next year, primarily because of current economic conditions and a lack of funding to ‘do it right.’ The Air Show Planning Committee is attempting to move the event to sometime in August 2010. We apologize if this chance inconveniences you and your plans to attend,” stated Ketch.
Wardwell is confident this is only a delay and next year’s show will be worth waiting for.
“I think if we can do what we planned this year for next year’s show, people will be pleased with it,” said Wardwell.
For updates on the proposed show or to make a donation toward next year’s event, visit www.pqairshow.com.
