Enthusiasm sky-high for Vanderhoof Air Show, even with some rain

Even with some rain on the weekend, spirits were soaring in Vanderhoof this past weekend as spectators flocked to the Vanderhoof International Airshow.

According to Director Paul Collard, it was the first two-day show in quite some time.

“We were weather challenged a little bit through the weekend, the Saturday turned out better than we hoped,” he said. “It was a good crowd on Saturday, and we had all the acts perform, and everything was on time.”

Collard said Sunday was a bit more challenging.

“We couldn’t deploy the skydivers, as the ceiling was too low,” he explained. “We did have a significant chunk of rain come in, and then the emergency services, fire department and ambulance, had to leave, which means we had to stop the show at just past the halfway mark, so that was a bit disappointing.”

A new addition to the show was the hot-air balloon ride, which Collard said was highly successful.

“We had a lot of happy people that went up and had a look from above the ground made a really nice sight on the Vanderhoof Airport, having a big hot-air balloon there,” Collard said.

However, Collard said there were plenty of challenges in putting the hot-air balloon on.

“You need infinite amounts of propane, very large area, the thing has to be tethered so it doesn’t blow away,” he said. “It certainly raised a lot of interest. We managed to sell the rides ahead of time and schedule them so that people didn’t have to hand around for hours and hours, they had an allotted time.”

Overall, Collard said they’re happy with how things went over the weekend.

The Airshow runs on a two year basis, meaning there will be no airshow next year, but Collard said the future may be up in the air after that.

“The present directors and volunteers are sort of bowing out at the end of this one,” he said. “The Society will have to take on some new directors, and see what direction they want to take in a couple of years.”