Wed, Apr 14, 2004
High winds at night, low ceilings during the day keep crowds
away
By ANN Correspondent Juan Jimenez
The Sun-N-Fun week-long
general aviation show in Lakeland, Florida opened today after
experiencing very high winds overnight that took down a number of
tents and damaged a few aircraft on the flight line.
Exhibitor Paul Ross of Alturair told ANN that he lost his tent
overnight and had to set it up again in the morning, after finding
that the winds had relocated it on one of the aircraft exhibits
across from his location. That aircraft was not damaged, but others
on the flight line were affected by gusts that were estimated to
have ranged between 30 and 70 miles per hour.
The opening of the show was also dampened by weather problems -
low ceilings, overcast conditions, temperatures in the 50's and the
occasional drizzle did not help to attract visitors to the
activity. The parking lot was not filled anywhere near capacity and
the volume of visitors is clearly down from last year's opening
day.
The weather outlook for the rest of the week, however, is
excellent. The forecast for Wednesday through Saturday is for sunny
days and pleasant temperatures, with predicted highs ranging from
70 to 79 degrees. Lows are expected to from 51 to 55 degrees, which
should spur attendance to the evening corn roasts and other heated
activities.
One very nice
improvement over last year's event is the quality of the food. This
reporter has always had a pet peeve about the quality of the human
fuel at EAA airshows, and this year the Sun-N-Fun staff appears to
have outdone itself in this category. Among the new additions to
the show fare is higher quality food (at prices to match) from
Jimmy Buffet's new "Air Margaritaville" cafe, which now occupies
the main food service location where nothing but burgers, hot dogs
and fries were served in the past. The new cafe will offer "higher
quality breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, and feature live
entertainment each evening."
Other food service offerings new to the show will feature
Johnson's Barbeque in the former homebuilt chicken and BBQ
location, and an expanded food court will now serve Mexican,
Italian, Chinese and Greek cuisine as well as seafood. A new
high-end coffee house location will feature regular coffee as well
as specialty beverages.
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