The sixth annual Hollister Air Show, a Father’s Day tradition, is coming to the Hollister Municipal Airport this weekend.
The air show will begin at 9 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday and end at approximately 2 p.m. each day. Performers taking to the skies this year include Vicky Benzing, Steve Stovrakakis, Carl Liepold, Jason Pullen, Kevin Walker and Spencer Suderman as well as the U.S. Navy Strike Fighter Squadron.
Airplanes and vehicles featured during the festivities include an L-39C Albatros jet, Extra 300S, Boeing Stearman, 1946 Taylorcraft, Yak 55M, Pitts S-2B, Meteor Pitts, 1990 black Harley FXR and more.
For Hollister Airport Director, Mike Chambless, the annual air show is an opportunity to invite the community into the gates that are usually closed for security reasons.
“It’s about being a good neighbor and member of the community,” Chambless said.
The Hollister City Council originally generated the idea for the air show. For the first few years the show was planned for Memorial Day, but the weather didn’t cooperate. The event was eventually moved to Father’s Day as a result.
According to Chambless, the annual show is put on with a $50,000 budget that is covered in part by advertising and supplemented by the airport itself.
Attendance has risen over last three years, from 1,483 visitors in 2012 to 2,390 people last year. Each airshow for the past four years has boasted 100 vendors.
Inspiring future pilots is another important reason for the show, remarked Monty Groves of Frazier Lake, a member of the air show team who will be managing performers during the day of the event.
“It is important to present aviation to kids,” Groves said, “We need more pilots.”
After all, “It worked for me,” he added. According to Chambless, the airport purchased a plane for this purpose, an aircraft that children can touch and explore.
Tickets for the annual air show can be purchased at the door, or ahead of time at the airshow’s website, for $15 per adult and $10 for children. Parking passes are $5. A family pack, which includes two adult tickets, two child tickets and one parking pass, is also available for $40.
For more information regarding the weekend’s schedule, or to purchase tickets, visit the air show’s website.