Well, unfortunately, Dave is not here today, so I get to hang out with the airplane.

There's an awesome event that's going to be happening this weekend at the Apple Festival, but Wings and Wheels, that is a show that has been sticking around for probably a couple dozen years now.

But even though the Apple Festival is celebrating 50 years, you guys are bringing the show out with the wings and the wheels, right?

This is pretty awesome.

Yes, we're looking forward to it on Saturday.

So we have all kinds of events happening at the airport.

Part of that is our wheels portion of the wings and wheels.

And that's where we're going to have an antique classic car show.

That's awesome.

And I have to say like, how many cars are you expecting for this?

Well, last year we had 110.

That's a lot.

Yeah.

So we're expecting we're expecting more this year because we lowered the price.

Okay.

The entry fee last year was $20.

We've lowered that to ten.

So you get to bargain.

That's right.

So yes.

Okay.

So tell us, do you have a car in it?

Well I do, but if it's raining.

No, but I will bring my car if it's not raining.

So, you know, they're kind of.

We are kind of.

I've learned I've only had mine a couple of years.

We get fussy with our cars and I've learned to our planes.

Right.

Yes.

And you have a plane here as well, right?

Yes.

The plane right behind us.

That one's yours.

Tell me a little bit about your plane.

Well, it's it's a dynamic.

It's a light sport aircraft.

Very lightweight, very sporty.

And it's a blast of fly.

I love that.

So now for the wings portion that you guys are going to be doing.

Tell us what that means.

Well basically there's a couple portions of that.

We have T34 and a 13 and a PT 26 coming in.

And they're going to do flyovers at the parade with smoke.

So that'll be happening.

They'll start the parade in town and then they're going to be here.

And then after that we have pilots that are going to bring their own aircraft, and they're going to volunteer their time to give free rides to kids from the ages of 8 to 17.

That is pretty cool.

And I mean, how long have you been flying or at least interested in airplanes?

Boy, I've been.

I built my own RC airplane when I was 15 years old, so I've been in it for a long time.

What does that mean for, like, the kiddos who've never had an experience to actually fly up in an airplane?

What is that like?

It's like nothing else in the world.

It's just it's unimaginable.

It's a whole new world.

And hopefully we get new pilots coming out of that, too.

Right, right.

Yeah, absolutely.

I love that.

Now, you guys have a lot of activities that are going to be happening all weekend long.

And I know Saturday does have a small chance for rain showers.

What is your guys's rain plan for that?

Well, that's a great question.

First of all, we're praying and hoping.

No rain, right?

But so in the event that it does, the best way to stay connected is our social media channels.

Okay.

We have Facebook and Instagram.

We will be updating their live time.

So that's going to be your best way to know what's going on.

Obviously people you know, we want you to come out to the festival.

The temperature is supposed to be great, so we could all get wet, but we understand cars.

And if if we do reschedule Ruby schedule for Sunday, oh, so everything will run on time for the car show portion on Sunday.

So that's what we'll end up.

And same thing for the airplanes too.

Or I guess the airplane flyover will happen, probably rain or shine, because the parade is still going to go on.

It depends on how bad the weather is.

Sure.

Light rain?

Yes, it'll still happen.

Okay.

Anything worse than that?

Yeah.

They will cancel because that's important that they stay safe.

And that's pretty cool that people have the opportunity to come in and get up close with an airplane, because I always think, you know, it's surreal to see an airplane up in the sky.

But when you're a person to person, a person to plane rather like right in front of it, it's a whole different experience.

Right.

And we will also have aircraft on display that they can walk right up to and actually see, and mine will be one of them that will be on display.

And we'll have other aircraft.

We usually have a crop duster, which is kind of unique and big really.

Now see, I've never seen one up close, so I think that would be pretty cool.

They are huge.

Really?

Yeah, they are really huge.

So yeah, they're usually a treat for kids to see.

Yeah.

Especially knowing the important job that they have, especially here in our community.

Right.

Yeah.

Okay.

Now the wheels that are coming, I'm sure there's going to be some classics.

Is there like a range of what you're expecting to see?

Is there like a certain time period or can anybody bring their car.

Anybody can bring their car.

Matter of fact, we added a new category this year.

So it's going to be for those younger people who are fixing up their vehicles, but they're not completely finished.

So like a fixer up category.

So that's something new.

We added our patriotic category this year just because of America's 250th birthday.

So but yeah, we have cars, I think 1920s all the way up.

We have truck category, motorcycle category.

You know, if you've ever been to a car show, it's like one big family, right?

They park their vehicles.

They put that.

Yeah.

You know, some of them bring their little grills in and it's it's super cool.

So we're looking forward to hosting that here.

We're going to have trophies.

We're going to have giveaways every half hour.

So we have local businesses that have donated car care kits.

You know, I'm State Farm agent Nappanee.

So, you know, we're donating some stuff there.

We got a diecast car that we're donating.

And so just having some fun, it's a great day.

We got 6070 music playing and just a fun time.

So I love that.

Boy Scouts will be planted here.

And they're going to be serving food so you can support the Boy Scouts.

And then we're actually having homemade ice cream.

Is that right?

No no no.

You like that in like you're making.

Well, he organized it.

It was kind of his thing.

I got it in.

So.

Yeah, I'm into ice cream.

I love ice cream.

So I got that and I love it.

But.

And another thing that I forgot to mention earlier is we're going to have paratroopers jumping in at 2:00, and they're going to have a big American flag that they're going to be dragging.

So that that is happening as well.

That's incredible.

And for those people who are coming to see the shows, where's the best place for them to park at?

Yes.

So we have a couple things.

If it's for the car, show the register at 9:00 and they park right out in front of the hangar.

We organize them in a nice straight line and take $10 fee and set the registration up.

If it's for the wings portion of it.

Challenger design has graciously allowed us to park in their parking lot, which is right next to here, and then there is some parking on the airport.

Or you could fly your airplane in.

Absolutely.

We welcome all airplanes to fly in.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And we do have quite a few that fly in at times.

Yeah I love that.

Okay.

So this is all happening Saturday rain date for Sunday.

But tell us a little bit about the festival because you guys are celebrating 50 years.

That's a big deal.

Yeah it is a big deal.

And this year our grand marshal is our director.

So her and her husband, Rick, we're our grand marshals.

Yeah.

So the seven foot apple pie weighs 600 pounds.

They started cooking that today.

And they'll start slicing that on Friday.

And you can find that at Don Carlos restaurant downtown.

And then they will take slices to the Apple Store, which was it was the maximum that someone can consume from that pie.

There's a lot.

And if you don't get it quick, it's gone by Saturday.

After really quickly I see that.

Okay.

All right.

So you got to get your apple pie.

But there's lots of other apple things happening this weekend.

I know there's lots of different shows.

There's lots of performers.

What else can people expect for the weekend?

Because it starts tonight or today rather.

Yep.

5:00.

So we're in full fledged mode.

We have entertainment.

We have the crowning of our Apple Festival queen.

So that'll be going on.

We have entertainment live entertainment tent.

So there's constant entertainment.

As the night goes on, the entertainment gets better.

We have carnival, there's rides, we have all of our local, our Kiwanis Lions Club.

They set up boost to serve food, but we also have all that great fair carnival food there.

Sure.

Yeah.

There will be anywhere from 85 to 100,000 people that come into town.

Oh my gosh.

And you have to be one of those.

Okay, if you're any of the updates, what's the best place to get hold of you guys?

I would say our social media channels is going to be the best way just to know what's going on.

So you can catch us on Facebook and then Instagram as well.

Okay.

Can we go fly away?

Absolutely.

All right.

Let's do it.

Yeah.