Cape air festival adding extreme sports element to broaden event's appeal

Organizers of this year's Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival are hoping a new direction will help attract a larger crowd to this year's event.

For the first time, the festival is incorporating motocross in an attempt to bring in people more interested in extreme sports.

Professional motocross riders Cody Elkins and Kyle Lovelace will jump over an airplane flying on its side, said Bruce Loy, manager of the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, where the show will take place.

"Having a motocross rider jump over an airplane, it's really a first in the history of airshows," said Loy.

The plane will be flown by nationally known trick pilot Skip Stewart.

And the festival will get an early kick-off tonight with a motocross demonstration by Elkins and Lovelace tonight at the Town Plaza Shopping Center at 6 p.m.

Tonight's event includes stuntman Paul Stender and the Dodge Ram Jet Truck, which will be on display. All three drivers will be at Buffalo Wild Wings following the performance to sign autographs.

The motocross element is new to the world of airshows and to the local festival, but Loy said this year's event will stay true to honoring America's veterans. The theme of the festival, "Heroes and Legends: A Salute to Those Who Serve," will become a regular fixture, Loy said.

"We have changed the theme every year, but no matter what we did every year we were really trying to salute veterans," he said.

The military will be honored at the festival through a variety of demonstrations, including flights by the A-10 and F-18 and re-enactments of World War II events such as the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo with two B-25 bombers.

The Black Dagger parachute team will perform a glow-in-the-dark show Friday night, and World War II airborne re-enactors will jump from a C-47 Saturday and Sunday.

Loy said Friday night's show will be the best Friday in festival history, with the Black Daggers and a T-6 flown by Bill Leff. Friday's show will be full of pyrotechnics, Loy said, and will finish with fireworks and a hangar dance with music by the Tony Spinner Band.

Musical entertainment will also be offered to the public Saturday night following a banquet to honor veterans at the VFW Hall on Kinsghighway. Saxophonist Ace Cannon will perform at 8:30 p.m.

Another new feature this year allows children to buy a membership in the Southeast Missourian Jr. Tracker's Junior Pilots' Club, which will include admittance to all three days of the festival, a meet-and-greet with the pilots and other perks.

Loy is hoping for attendance of 10,000 to 12,000 people, which is on par with previous years.

Gates open Friday at 6 p.m. and at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Shows start at 7 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

Want to go?

What: Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival

When: Today, 6 p.m., pre-show at Town Plaza Shopping Center

Friday, gates open at 6 p.m., show at 7 p.m.

Saturday, gates open at 9 a.m., show at 11 a.m.

Sunday, gates open at 9 a.m., show at 1 p.m.

Where: Cape Girardeau Regional Airport

Info: 334-6230