Your Chance to Design a Fly-In

Okay, so I've been "volunteered" to be on the board of directors of the
biggest fly-in event in Iowa City's history, the Eastern Iowa Big Kids Toy
Show, scheduled for May 20 - 21, 2006.

See us at www.BigKidToyShow.com (Yes, they made me wear a -- *sob* -- TIE
for the photos... It was awful! ;-)

This will be the second annual show, so we've got a basic template of events
that looks like this:

Saturday, 7 A-2P
- Fly-In/Drive-In Pancake Breakfast
- Static displays of aircraft (and all sorts of other "Big Kid Toys" like
exotic sports cars, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, motorhomes, boats, etc.
Many car dealers participated last year, naturally)
- Fly-overs by yet-to-be-named aircraft...
- Lunch served by (of course) the Johnson County Pork Producers
- Custom car show
- Lots of stuff for kids (inflatable thingies, etc.)
- Hangar Dance, 8P- ??

Sunday, 7 A-2P
- Fly-In/Drive-In Pancake Breakfast
- Static displays of aircraft (and all sorts of other "Big Kid Toys" like
exotic sports cars, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, motorhomes, boats, etc.)
- Fly-overs by yet-to-be-named aircraft...
- Lunch served by (of course) Johnson County Pork Producers

Show sponsorships are sold to anyone who wants to display their "big kid
toy." So, for example, if a Ferrari dealer wants to put one of his cars on
display, he will have to cough up a few bucks. All proceeds from the show
will go to the Iowa Children's Museum for the construction of an aviation
display! (Isn't that awesome? :-)

We were thinking our local EAA chapter could help construct a nice flight
simulator for the kids, but the museum has given us a HUGE area to fill, so
we could even display a full-sized aircraft along with it!

I'm looking for ideas! I've been to a zillion fly-ins, some terrific,
others lame, and I would sure like to hear from those who have done this
before, so I don't have to learn from my mistakes. What makes a great
fly-in? (Besides good weather, of course) I'm hoping we can get a bunch
of World War II aircraft on display, and maybe some military fly-overs
during the show -- who should one contact for stuff like that?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"