City of
First Annual to be held October 9-11, 2009
Committee minutes
Attendees:
Albert Gardner
Jeanine Rhea
Meeting called to order at 5:20
* LOCATION * SOMERTON * COCOPAH * TRANSPORTATION *
*TENTS * MARINE SUPPORT * PAID RIDES * TO DO *
EAA SUPPORTS
Paul and Albert said that they had discussed our event at their recent EAA chapter meeting and it was decided that EAA fully support the event and assist with the planning and organization of it. Paul Rachels will be the Fly-in liaison for the chapter. Several other EAA members will be attending future Fly-in Committee meetings. Albert mentioned that the EAA will take responsibility for the pancake breakfast for the Fly-In.
VISION
First order was to discuss our vision of the Fly-in. At this point in time we all agreed that we did not know how large an event this will grow to be but there were a few key aspects that we wanted to have. Jeanine mentioned the Cactus Fly-in as a good reference of how many planes we’d like to attract but with more “on the ground” activities planned. It was also brought up that we be a non-profit organization and just get enough sponsorships to cover all costs.
AERONCAS
One key aspect we all agreed upon was that this event should highlight Aeronca aircraft since this was the model of the City of
Paul Rachels contacted the national organization of Aeronca owners several weeks ago and they posted his email about our event on their website. There has already been considerable interest in our Fly-in by the association and several mentioned that they felt that this could grow to be their annual West Coast Aeronca event.
ADOPT AN AERONCA
An idea that sprang from attending the Cactus Fly-in last month (all three of us went) was to copy their idea of having local companies sponsor airplane tie-downs. At the Cactus event we saw some planes in the central area had medium-sized signs that had company logos and “this tie-down sponsored by XYZ Company”. Our twist on that would be to have local companies “adopt an Aeronca” and sponsor “the care and feeding” of an Aeronca. They would pay for the gas for one full tank (estimated average cost $100 - $150) and a tie-down sign would be located near the Aeronca stating that they had adopted that particular plane. Paul suggested that we may even want to include “grooming” and get the wash truck out to give the Aeronca’s a free bath as well. Aeronca owners who pre-register for the event by a certain date would be entitled to “adoption” benefit. We believe that this would be a great incentive to get many Aeronca’s to attend. Paul mentioned that he had a contact that is a graphic artist who may be willing to design the signs gratis for us. We will then just need to have them printed.
LOCATION
Next order was to look at the Airport and decide where to hold the event. We brought up the google satellite image map of
LOCATION – CAR SHOW - SOMERTON
Mentioned during looking at the map was our desire to have a small to medium size Car Show with cars from the same era of the Aeronca and original historic flight. Looking at the
COCOPAH TIE IN?
While looking at the map we panned over Cocopah Casino and it was suggested that we talk to them about possibly holding some kind of events over there as it is just down the street from
TRANSPORTATION – BUS SERVICE
Transportation would need to be worked out and it was mentioned that the Cocopah may be interested in sponsoring a shuttle to and from both
TENTS
Due to the hot weather during the mid-October event we agreed that we would need to provide “areas of respite”. Large air-conditioned tents were mentioned and it was suggested that we try to have vendors (such as Bose, etc) pay to rent the tents. We would need 2 to 3 such tents located at Somerton (run on generators) and at least that many at
MARINE SUPPORT
Albert mentioned that we need to contact the Marine base liaison to see how much they are willing to support our event. Jeanine mentioned that we really need to impress upon them the historical significance of what our Fly-In is commemorating and that if it wasn’t for our record setting flying town heroes, the base may not have been re-commissioned in the first place! Paul mentioned that a possible conflict may be the WTI training schedule and so we needed to get with the Marine base as soon as possible to work out the details. Albert said it would probably be a good thing to meet with Craig Williams and the Marine base at the same time. He will set up a meeting with them both soon.
Paul said we might want to find out if we can have one or more pilots at our event who specialize in providing site-seeing rides to drive-in attendees. We will look into this and keep in mind for the future.
BALLOONS
Jeanine mentioned that she had talked to Jerry Paulin, the Chair of the Caballero Balloon Festival. He had offered his support and advice as he is familiar with event organizing. He said that his son owns a hot air balloon and he could probably get him and some other local balloonists out for our event and do balloon glows at night. Commercial paid balloon rides may be a great addition as well.
ACTION – TO DO BEFORE NEXT MEETING
Tent prices and/or donation of use
Contact Charles Seltzer about Somerton possibilities
Contact Cocopah
Contact local car clubs for interest
Contact City of
Work with Visitor’s Bureau and create “wish list” for national sponsors
Contact Shirley Woodhouse to discuss bringing Buick to Fly-in
Set up meeting with Craig Williams and Marine base liaison
- Identify best area to park planes
- Find out about WTI schedule
- Find out how much support we can get expect from the base
- Static displays
- Demos
- Volunteer personnel
- Find out if we can have them Relax MOA’s
MEETING SCHEDULE
It was decided that we will try to meet every other Thursday at 5:15 at the Hampton Inn & Suites until further notice.
ADJOURN
Meeting was adjourned at about 6:30 PM.
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