New, returning acts to join Goshen air show
GOSHEN — America’s Freedom Fest at Goshen Municipal Airport Saturday will feature several new and returning high-flying acts.
Gates open at noon and the air show is set to start at 6 p.m. The show includes more than a dozen performers and display providers.
The day starts with the Freedom Fest 5K run/walk at 8 a.m., with awards in several categories to be given afterward. The event ends with a fireworks display by Ramsey Pyrotechnics.
Ticket information and full show details are available at americasfreedomfest.net. Advance tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children, or $70 for a new family package that includes two adults and two children.
The price at the gate is $30 for adults and $20 for children. Admission is free for active and retired service members with ID.
A newly introduced Premium Flight Line Club section is $75 per seat, and can be bought ahead of time or added to a regular admission ticket at the show. It’s the closest you can get to the action without being on the flight crew, according to Executive Director Angie McKee.
“That is going to be a roped-off area where you’re going to be right out by the taxiway, so you’re going to feel and smell all the jet fumes and be right there with basically nothing obstructing your view,” she said. “That’s something new that we added, we’re trying it. I think we’ve sold 20 tickets in that area, we have seats for 100. But obviously people are going to want to possibly bring their own lawn chairs so they have something comfortable to sit in, vs. hard plastic chairs from a banquet.”
Show participants include the F-16 Viper Demonstration Team, based at Shaw Air Force Base, and the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team. The competitive skydiving team started in 1959 to contend against teams from the Soviet Union and has earned over 3,800 medals while setting almost 350 world records.
“They will actually be doing a night jump,” McKee said. “They’ve never done a night jump before with us, they’ve always just done daylight opening act jumps.”
Randy Ball will bring his MiG-17f, a fighter aircraft used in the Soviet Union starting in the 1950s. McKee said it’s a fan-favorite.
Another historic aircraft to fly in the show is Flagship Detroit’s Douglas DC-3. It’s one of the last remaining active examples of the airliner first introduced in 1936 and used by American Airlines.
“The Flagship Detroit is something new to us,” McKee said. “The reason it’s called Flagship Detroit is, that plane, the only route it flew was from Detroit to St. Louis every day.”
A team from Sky Elements will perform a drone light show. The company appeared on America’s Got Talent in June, when it won a golden buzzer.
Midwest Helicopter Airways will return, this time dropping a truck from one of their heavy-lifting copters normally used in construction. Erik Edgren will return with his “clipped” 1939 Taylorcraft, performing a “drunken flight” comedy act.
Other participants include the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation “Sky Soldiers,” Susan Dacy in “Big Red,” Mike Vaknin’s “Extra 300,” Bob Richards’s “Machaira” biplane and a Beechcraft T-34 demonstration.
All of the participating aircraft will be on display ahead of the show, according to McKee, along with U.S. Army and Air Force displays and a collection of helicopters as part of the Rotors and Ribs section. There will also be a kids zone with bounce houses and plenty of food vendors.
“I think we have 22 food vendors and three different food courts,” McKee said. “So hopefully somebody will be able to find something to their liking.”