The City of Hollister plans to sponsor a Memorial Day weekend
air show at the Hollister Airport as a means of promoting the
venue.
The city of Hollister plans to sponsor a Memorial Day weekend air show at the Hollister Airport as a means of promoting the venue.
After initially being approached by a promoter who was interested in putting on such a show before deciding not to, city officials are planning to use up to $15,000 from the airport fund to host a so-called Category 3 air show, which is limited to aircraft that have a cruising speed of less than 156 knots and propeller-driven aircraft – no jets.
“The only funding I have would be from the airport. This is not a general fund activity,” said Airport Director Mike Chambless. “My primary goal in doing this, and we’re going to keep the price real low, is to see how many people are willing to attend an event at the airport. Our normal procedure is to hire a consultant to pull a number out of the air.”
Instead, Chambless recommends hosting a relatively small event with the money that otherwise would have been used on a report.
“One thing that’s dangerous for an airport is lack of public awareness and information,” he said. “We’ll probably have, at most, two hours of acrobatic flying and there will be large, on-the-ground, static displays. We’re trying to get different organizations out here to provide other things to look at.”
In a January report to the City Council, Chambless said he chose Memorial Day Weekend as the date for the air show because it wouldn’t conflict with other, similar shows in the region.
Look for the full story in the Pinnacle on Friday.
