Sun, Feb 22, 2004
On Again Off Again Celebration Is On Again
It's almost a cheap shot to say that the 2004 Wichita Aviation
Festival has been up in the air. But it has.
The on-again, off-again event now appears to be on again, after
Wichita city leaders announced they'd back a scaled-down version of
the show. The Wichita Eagle reports the festival is scheduled for
September 24th and 25th at McConnell AFB.
"The city is going to do basically what it did last year," Mayor
Carlos Mayans said. "It was a city festival." Mayans says his city
will contribute $125,000 of the estimated $400,000 it will take to
get the show off the ground.
But officials in Wichita want out of show business. For the 2005
extravaganza, they're considering the use of an outside firm to run
things. "The city's desire is not to be in the events business,"
said John D'Angelo, who directed the festival during its first two
years and is also director of CityArts.
The city had pulled out of the event
after officials decided they couldn't foot the bill for another
show. Wichita Festivals, the event company which will help put on
this year's show, last week withdrew from negotiations when it
decided it couldn't foot the tab for a free show either. The very
next day, C.K. Newcomb & Associates of Cleveland, the company
that stages airshows in Cleveland and Dayton, also pulled out.
Newcomb reportedly wanted to move the show to Jabara Airport and
charge admission. By law, the McConnell show can't charge a fee for
entry.
The Eagle reports city officials were "stunned" at losing both
prospective show managers. So Wichita went back to the drawing
board. Details on this year's show will come at a later date.
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