Realized today that I had failed to post this on the event thread:
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The 25th Annual Fly-In for Diabetes, held on 9/18, was a resounding success!!!
The weather cooperated - with sunny skies and a gentle breeze down the runway. It was a little warm for September, but it was really a nice day.
We had some really good aerobatic flying talent again this year. Seth Arnold and Ben Batts returned again this year and did just an awesome job. Visiting our field for the first time this year was Joe Smith and his family from Fort Wayne. He has been flying less than two years, but his skill level is unbelievable.
We had several others put on some impressive flying demos. There was a guy (didn't catch his name) flying some very nice scale helicopters. Matt Hanley flew the opening flag tow and a very nice aerobatic demo with his big helicopter. Joe Farris flew his Pogo several times. Jerry Bunner got in some exciting flights with John Gaither's new rocket glider.
I was pleased with the participation in the glider chase this year. I think Tucker released the glider into a thermal for the 2nd flight. Maybe next year somebody will finally hit the glider.
John Gaither organized the sound system again for us this year, but we had a new announcer - Fred Jungclaus. Fred has a vast knowledge of all things aviation, which was evident as he commented on various aircraft that were flying.
We broke our one-day attendance record this year! According to Bob Badger and the parking crew, they counted a total of 646 people that came to the event. Being able to park in the recently-harvested bean field was great - we had basically unlimited parking space!
Bob Braham and his culinary crew did so much business at the concession stand that they had to make a run to the store for more food - at least once, perhaps twice. I don't think there was much left at the end of the day - which is a good thing! I'm not sure, but I think they set some records in this area.
Biff & Clyde Denzer had their hands full in the auction (buy-it-now) area. We had SEVERAL items donated this year. I think former member Bruce Pulliam was our largest contributor this year - donating nearly ALL of his R/C gear. By the end of the day, Doug Gifford didn't have that many items to auction off. I think we set a record on the auction items this year.
Jerry Bunner and the raffle tent crew kept busy selling tickets all day and we did very well in that area. Barb Middleton sold lots of T-shirts. The Mary Kay lady was there and did a steady business, donating 50% of her sales to our event! She also donated gift baskets for the raffle.
So, what was the bottom line? We will be donating over $6,100 dollars to the ADA this year!!!
Here's a breakdown of how we did in the various areas:
Concessions $1495.00
Raffle $1070.00
Auction $1999.00
Parking $907.87
T-shirts $430.00
Donation $200.00
Obviously, we couldn't have done it without all of the hard work by everyone involved. I know there are others I've failed to mention above, but you know who you are!
Thank you so much for making this event a huge success!!!
