Vidalia Onion Festival
The 32nd annual Vidalia Onion Festival Airshow was a huge success this year. The festival was blessed with beautiful clear skies, temperatures in the low 90’s with a nice breeze. The show normally has the Blue Angles but this year the Blues were at another airshow.
The Onion Festival organizers were brilliant in recruiting such acts as; Tim Weber, Kent Pietsch comedy act flying his Jelly Belly 1942 Interstate Cadet, Julie Clark with her beautiful T-34 Chevron Mentor, the Sky Soldiers U.S. Army Cobra helicopters precision flying, the A-10 East Coast Demo team, U.S. Air Force jet car, motorcycle demo team from Okalahoma City, and the head liner Skip Stewart. Also to thrill the crowd a B2 stealth bomber completed some nice fly-by's with the pilot narrating the flight. George Kline did his usual great job keeping the show moving without a hitch. Hugh Oldham did a great job announcing the show and keeping the fans informed.
If you have ever seen the Sky Soldiers perform you will agree they are awesome. The precision formation flying, with four Cobra helicopters, equals that of a jet team. My hat goes off to these Vietnam veterans on a job well done. Skip did his usual great performance but had a real twist to end the show. Skip flew under a motorcycle jumping over the runway. The motorcycle flew 72 feet from ramp to ramp and gave enough room for Skips Pitts to go underneath. Doing this once is one thing but they did it 3 times. This show was very family orientated, with allot of fun things for the young and reasonable prices on food and drinks. The volunteers who helped park vehicles were some of the nicest and friendliest individuals I have ever met. I look forward to going to Vidalia next year, hope to see you there.
By Carl Wilcox
