Date: May 19-20, 2007
Story by: Kim Curry
Photography by: Michael J. Gallagher

Holy cow! How much fun can one person have in one day at an air show? Well, it seems a ton of fun according to my visit to LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

To provide a bit of perspective, I am a former Airshow Coordinator for 14 consecutive years with Springfield Air Rendezvous, a show that lasted for 24 consecutive years. Due to many reasons beyond our control, Springfield will no longer be hosting an airshow. But, once an air show fan, always an airshow fan, so off to LaCrosse I went. I might look at things just a bit different from the average airshow fan, but it’s all the same when you look into people’s faces and see the excitement and fun at the end of the day.

My 19 year old daughter, Christy, and I made the 7 hour drive to LaCrosse on Friday, arriving in time for the festivities to begin. Captain Ron, Tess & Dave Larson, Lenny, Harlan, and all of the good friends and people of LaCrosse provided us with a warm welcome and lots of hugs. The LaCrosse folks have been coming to Air Rendezvous for the past ten years and are members of the Springfield Air Rendezvous airshow family. This was LaCrosse’s 10th Anniversary airshow. On Thursday, I thought I’d play a little joke on Tess by phoning her and asking her a couple of “real” questions that I have been asked in the past 14 years and during a Blue Angel show year. I didn’t identify myself, but began by asking, “Is that there airshow indoors or out” and then went right into saying, “also, can you ask those blue jets to fly a bit higher as they are blowing off the blossoms to my tomato plants”. Tess then recognized my voice and laughed hysterically. Always nice to have a good belly laugh when you are in the middle of what I call planned airshow chaos.

Upon our arrival, I found Tess with a line of hungry and thirsty pilots waiting patiently for their car and hotel assignments. Several phones were ringing so I did what I do well...began talking on the phone after answering by saying, “Deke Slayton Airfest. How may I help you?” I did my best to answer all the questions until the more informed volunteers arrived back at their stations. That night was a Hangar Dance complete with wonderful presentations to many important people such as the boys in blue aka “bluebirds” per Dan Buchanan. You’ll have to ask him about that one cause this is my story and I’m stickin to it. A wonderful selection of Wisconsin brew was on hand, and we all enjoyed catching up on current happenings and laughing about old stories that never seem to get too old for another good laugh.

Since Pauline Buis and I call each other sis, Christy and I were considered part of the Otto crew. We assisted in helicopter rides as Roger brought two choppers including his newly refurbished Bell somethingerother that looks like the choppers you see on MASH. Very cool. The Bell was flown by none other than the famous jet powered glider pilot, Bob Carlton. Ride lines were on-going all day long and what a beautiful ride it was. LaCrosse has plenty of beautiful scenery with lots of water and bluffs and green everywhere. If you are wondering, I always need an Otto fix if Otto is close by. Christy first flew in Otto when she was 4 when Bob and Annette Hosking owned Otto. While working in the helo ride booth, a lady named Kathy Ross approached us. She had a hand made “I Love OTTO” shirt on. Of course we ooooo’d and awwwww’d over her shirt and then she stated that her first ride in Otto was at Springfield Air Rendezvous. That of course, led to, "Oh my goodness; I’m from Springfield Air Rendezvous." What a joy that was. It’s why we producers do what we do...because of airshow fans like Kathy Ross. The looks on the faces of all these children and adults when coming off of the helicopter rides were worth a million bucks. You want airshow fans to have a great experience but with the MASH bird and Otto there doing rides, it was the icing on the cake.

Other great performers at the show were Dan Buchanan, John Mohr, and Stuntman Todd Green doing the air-to-air transfer called the Untied Team with Otto too. This is one of my personal favorite performances on the airshow circuit. It got a bit gusty that day and I was Type A’ing worrying about Todd. Can’t help it-it’s what I do. The show also included Dr. Blank, Michael Wiskus (I heard he did a flyby for Lucas Oil at a local race track for a very cool cross promo idea), Viper Demo Team, Vlado Lenoch in his beautiful P-51 (love the sound of that engine), and a great US Coast Guard demo. There was a B-25 that did a flyby with 4 T-6 Texans performing a moving missing man. Tom Poberezny of EAA was also on hand as well as an astronaut (didn’t get to meet him). The finale act just after the Untied Team was the US Navy Blue Angels. It was only their second show since the tragedy, and I must say, for so early in the year and only back up for two weeks with all six, they looked fantastic. I had the pleasure of meeting several of them that had been to Springfield in 05. They were all very outgoing and a great team.

The show grounds were very clean and organized well for the show goers. The show went like clockwork and Phil Dacy did an excellent job at announcing. If I forgot any of the performers, please accept my sincere apologies. I surely didn’t do it on purpose. I was a busy lady that day but watched almost every second of flying. My daughter was asked to sing the Canadian Anthem at opening ceremony which was even more meaningful after the Snowbird’s horrible loss the day before. Oh boy, I experienced that stage mom thing so I didn’t have a stress free day after-all. She was great though and hit every note so I was quite the proud mom and went into relax mode again.
During the day, I heard some of the airshow crew saying they ran out of parking (never had done so in the past) and some vendors ran out of food. Now the general public might think this is a really bad thing, but as an airshow coordinator, I say it’s a GREAT airshow day! They had overflow parking available and flexed to that and a food run was accomplished. We that do airshows are always of the can-do attitude. If you aren’t, you shouldn’t be doing an airshow. Some other inside poop is the really cool home-made hand washing stations that Dave Larson built. They were located throughout the field and used by all. Great idea and should be highlighted by ICAS to other members. The only bad thing I can say is that I had to leave on Sunday to make the journey home and didn’t get to see Sunday’s show. Some, like Pauline Buis (Otto’s mom) had to buy ANOTHER Blue Angel sweatshirt (she lives near Pensacola-the Blue’s home) so she has lots of Blue things. The day began at a mere 42 degrees. It was in the 80s on Saturday. Another inside thing, clothing vendors love cooler weather because they sell lots of sweatshirts and jackets (the higher priced items). Hence, the show gets more of a percentage return. It’s ALL good!

To end this book of a review, I must tell you that if you have never been to the Deke Slayton Airfest, you MUST go next year. It’s so family friendly and full of great and fun things to do as well as they put up one heck of an airshow. The folks that put up this show are as genuine as the day is long. My hat is off to the LaCrosse Crew. I couldn’t be happier for their success this year. They so deserve it. And, thanks to all the performers that participated at LaCrosse. You guys keep em coming back for more year after year.


Photo captions left to right: (1) A pilot signs an autograph for a young fan. (2) Dr. Bill Blank's Super Decathlon. (3) Viper East. (4) Vlado Lenoch in the P-51. (5) Mike Wiskus. (6) John Mohr in a slooooow speed pass. (7) USCG SAR Demo. (8) John Mohr and Todd green. (9) Fat Albert JATO. (10) and (11) Blue Angel cross-overs. (12) CDR Kevin Mannix, the Blue's Boss, signs for the fans.