One of most thrilling, exciting, Fourth of July celebrations happens every year in a little town with a population of 18,000 located 80 miles west of Houston. These town people celebrate their 4^th at the Bay City Municipal Airport every year.

            Something for everybody both young and old.  For the youngsters there is a train ride that goes from 3pm until dark.  Rides were set up all over the airport grounds with visitors waiting for their turn.  Basketball games, shoot the hoop and bounce house slides were just a few of the adventures they had to offer. 

            Food booths also dot the apron with a variety of foods from hamburgers, turkey legs, snow cones, and of course, the all American hot dog. 

            The air show started at 6:00 pm with a ping pong drop.  Three hundred prizes ranging from T-Shirts to $150.00 gift certificates were given away.  The ping pong balls were numbered and dropped from Otto the helicopter. Each lucky visitor who was able to snag a ball that was dropped could redeem it for whatever number matched up to that prize.

Next in line was Roger Buis to fly in OTTO showing off his skills.  His maneuvers of flying backwards, clown acts and other highly skilled moves kept the crowd thrilled during his performance. 

            Paul Fiala aerobatic flight lasted for twenty minutes.  Paul has been flying for air shows for the past 25 years.  He flies a Great Lake 2T1 and does all kinds of aerobatic moves.  Paul recently received the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for 50 years of flying.  He has also flown for the King Ranch for 30 years.

Debbie Harvey Rihn one of the few women stunt pilots in the world was next to show off her skills.  She flies a Cap 232 which is a French built aircraft built in the year 2000.  She has been doing aerobatics for the past 30 years.  Her rolls, stalls and other moves certainly kept the crowd on pins and needles. 

The Houston Model Airplane Club had numerous model airplanes on display and also showed off their skills with various maneuvers.  Steve, who thy call Mr. Neon has been flying for years and is one of the best RC Pilots in the Houston area.  They performed all day starting at 3:00pm and did several flights during the air show which started at 6:00pm.

            Otto the Helicopter finished off the air shows by doing his now famous night time fireworks show.  His twenty minute show ended with a patriotic move of hoisting a huge American flag with fireworks busting around them.  It was a really emotional move that truly made everyone proud to be an American. 

            Music was played the entire day with local citizen Bob Head and Russell the DJ announcing the event.  Bob had every youngster dancing in front of the stage to win a prize.

            Robin Brant the Bay City Parks and Recreation Supervisor had a car & Motorcycle show and also a big 12 ft. screen with a patriotic slide show, which kept the event interesting. 

            A large firework show ended the event.  This year some 3,000 shells were launched.  Some of the shells were 10 inches in diameter weighing almost 20 lbs a piece.  No other city can match the 15 minutes of fireworks.  It’s called “The Best Little Fireworks Show in the State” and truly lives up to its name. 

            For next years fun, take Hwy 35 S from Houston or Hwy 60 S to join an adventure like no other in the state of Texas.