Day two of the three-day festival saw crowds eager to make up for what they had missed out on last year’s cancellation caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Festival organizers were only too happy to hear the shouts and claps and see smiles in between frequently pulling out their phones and communication devices and hustling place to place to keep the event flowing.
“The community wanted this,” said festival president and New Carlisle mayor Mike Lowrey. “Our car show was one of the biggest ever and that spoke volumes that people are wanting to get back to normal.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
He admitted it was a little tougher to put together being a year out of practice, but the results spoke to the effort.
Beautiful weather accompanied Friday’s kickoff with the annual cruise-in that got people in and energized for more. Saturday’s showpiece parade of planes and community parade only upped the enthusiasm.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Rick Ritter, who served 47 years in the New Carlisle Fire Department including as chief, was recognized for his service with the title of grand marshal, leading the parade in a military Jeep.
Bigger than ever, the vehicles and parade participants passed through Main Street for nearly an hour. While this is one of the few events you’ll find planes being towed down city streets, the sky also brought an aviation surprise.
A pair of Russian Yakovlev Yak-3 planes flew over the skies of New Carlisle several times, leaving contrails. The single-engine trainer planes were from Cold War-era Russia are now owned by private citizens, including one who flew in from Michigan and went right back there to another event.
While the event draws people from all over the area, one group traveled all the way from Clover, S.C.
In 2018, the Clover High School Air Force Junior ROTC unit took a road trip to the National Museum of the United States Air Force and happened to hear about the festival. The story about it became the talk of the unit.
When it came time to make a return, ROTC leader Maj. Brian Batson made sure the trip coincided with the festival.
“We take a couple of major trips a year and we were treated so well at this festival we wanted to bring the kids back,” said Batson. “Everybody here is so super friendly. The kids even got onstage and danced at the car show.”
While there are festivals back home, they didn’t compare to this one, according to cadet Alec DiFrango.
“They had a lot more cars here and nicer cars. This town looks like Clover to me,” he said.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Other cadets celebrated with a chocolate milk party and played volleyball in the CVS parking lot on Friday. Batson hinted that the road out of Clover could lead to New Carlisle on an annual basis.
For Lowrey, that’s confirmation of why they put this festival on.
“For kids, this is special. We’re thankful for everybody that makes this event possible and for the people who come out to it,” he said.
Sunday’s Heritage of Flight Festival highlights include the A Mile of Food food drive at 9 a.m., the Jim Slanker Memorial Chair Races at 1 p.m. and National Kiddie Pedal Tractor Pull at 2.
For more information, go to www.heritageofflight.com.
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