Acrobatic aerial stunts and the roar of airplane engines will return to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport this summer. The airport will host an airshow on Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29. This will be the first airshow in Cape Girardeau since 2010.
The Aerostars Aerobatic Team will headline the event. Other attractions include Kent Pietsch and his Jelly Belly comedy act , a T-28 World War Two trainer, a Mig-17F and a B-25 bomber.
Airport manager Bruce Loy says on Friday night there will be a veteran memorial tribute using sky lanterns.
“We hope to invite families out here that have had anybody in their family that had passed away that was a veteran,” Loy said. “We’re going to often them an opportunity to fly one of these lanterns and we hope to set all of those off at the same time, prior to, of course our fireworks.”
Loy typically budgets between $130,000 $160,000 for an airshow, and he says he typically recoups the costs through sponsorships, food, souvenirs and gate revenue. He says the sequester impacted this year’s show because military acts and exhibits were forced to cancel due to their budgets.
“We’ve got a good lineup in spite of that,” Loy said. “The cost to get in is only five dollars for children, five dollars for adults if they buy in advance or seven dollars at the gate for the adults. Kids are always going to be five bucks.”
Loy anticipates about 8,000 people will show up for the event.
The gates will open at 5:00 on Friday, and the show begins at 6:30. On Saturday, gates will open at 10:00 and performances start at 12:00.
Those interested in volunteering should contact the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.
