The excitement begins at 2 p.m. Friday Oct. 4 with the opening of the Beer and Brat Hanger with Big Screen Sports. That’s right, folks, there is no reason to miss the big game. This center of activity will be open all weekend.
At 4 p.m. Classic Cruise-In begins. This gigantic cruise-In literally fills the entire length of New Carlisle’s Main Street and some of the side streets too with beautiful classic automobiles,.
READ: Springfield woman grateful for her journey of beating cancer
In my opinion this is the coolest cruise you will ever see. Nearly 900 restored and well-preserved cars show up polished to reflect the bright street lights. The Fleez will play classic rock and roll on the Garage King Stage. (I dare you not to tap your toes.) There will also be a live auto auction during the band’s break.
Throughout the weekend Dan Foster will be creating Live Caricatures and Cartoon Portraits for free. Check the schedule.
Also all weekend a Silent Auction and a 50/50 drawing will be going on. And be sure to check out the new Heritage of Flight Commemorative Coin.
Food trucks, vendors, and rides will fill the rest of the pavement in town. Among the new food items this year there will be airplane-shaped sugar waffles.
And that’s not all the food. Honey Creek Presbyterian Church, 212 West Jefferson St. will have its amazing homemade Chicken and Noodles on Friday and Saturday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m.
Impact Bethel will have a hearty Pancake Breakfast Saturday morning from 7 to 10 a.m. at the First Methodist Church at Main and Madison.
Saturday is the biggest of the three days. It begins with the 5K walk/run at 8:15 a.m.
The Parade of Planes and Community Parade begins at 11 a.m. It is the only parade anywhere that I know of that has airplanes instead of floats. These are pulled by classic tractors or even lawn mowers.
Are you more interested in the future of flight? There will be a Star Wars section in this year’s parade to encourage your imagination. Costumed Star Wars characters are invited to join in.
Since a good weather report is important to flight, Grand Marshall for this year’s parade is McCall Vrydaghs, Chief Meteorologist WHIO’s Storm Center 7.
READ: Springfield bakery celebrating first anniversary in storefront
Vrydaghs was on air when our area suffered the tornado outbreak on Memorial Day. While we hung on her every word, she stood her watch, held back her tears, and kept us informed during that scary outbreak.
“It still feels surreal when I think about that day and how much of an impact I had on our communities,” said Vrydaghs. “Every time I get the chance to talk with someone about that night I hear a new story. And each story is like a chapter in the book we’ve all written together. It connects us and is so very special to me to hear all the kind words everyone has said to me.”
Vrydaghs, who is excited to be a parade Grand Marshall for the first time, offered on Monday evening a long range forecast for the parade.
“Right now, Saturday is looking like a more typical fall weekend compared to the hot days and weeks we’ve seen recently. Temperatures will be climbing through the 50s into the 60s during the parade under mostly sunny skies.”
Watch Storm Center 7 for her more timely report later this week.
The Flight Pageant Crowning Ceremony will follow the parade at 12:30 p.m. at the Garage Kings stage near the corner of Main and Washington streets.
The Pageant is followed at 1 p.m. by the unifying activity of the festival. This is the time when everyone at the festival, and we do mean every last person, joins together to flap their arms like a bird. Yes, that’s right; another attempt will be made to break the world record for the number of people doing the Chicken Dance. This event is sponsored as always and appropriately by Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken. Maybe this is the year.
READ: Case dismissed against Springfield man accused of causing fatal crash
Other events include Young Eagles Free Plane Rides on Saturday only, the festival’s third annual bike show, the unicorn challenge ice cream cone balancing competition sponsored by Arrow Queen, a Wing eating contest sponsored by Dominos and and fireworks sponsored by BoBo Construction.
Sunday morning at 9 a.m. the construction of the Mile of Food begins. The line of non-perishable food is placed end to end from the center of town and goes down SR 571 to the Airport. Food has been collected for weeks, but more donations are needed to make the full mile. Before and during the festival non-perishable food donations can be dropped off at the Firehouse on Church Street.
According to Gorby the food bank genuinely needs our support.
“We mainly want people to bring the food down because it doesn’t have to be a holiday for people to be hungry,” said Gorby.
Additional Sunday events include the Jim Slanker Memorial Chair Races, the kiddie pedal tractor pull, separate musical performances by The Glems and groups from Tecumseh High School, followed by Silly Safari - a live animal show to end the festival.
Check out heritageofflight.com for more details.
About the Author