YUMA'S BEST FREE EVENT
Most people will never experience the sensation of sitting in the cockpit of a modern fighter jet streaking through the sky, or in a stunt plane as it dips and turns in an aerobatics display.
Yuma area residents can enjoy the next best thing. They can watch from the ground as these aircraft go through their aerial gyrations overhead and they don’t have to pay the price of admission to watch.
Respondents in Yuma’s Best, the Yuma Sun’s annual poll of its reader’s favorite businesses, services and entertainment in Yuma County, picked the Yuma Airshow as the Best Free Entertainment event in 2009 and 2010. The Airshow previously won that category in 2007, as well.
Hosted annually by the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, the event brings to town the nation’s top military and civilian aviators who dazzle thousands of spectators with their flight demonstrations. Aside from the show going on overhead, the public can go onto the TARMAC and get an up close look at fighter and bomber aircraft that once were or are today part of our nation’s arsenal.
Aside from the fact that the show is free, “It’s geared towards the family,” informs Greg McShane, air show coordinator and MCAS airfield operations officer. “It’s a great family event. We like it because it’s an opportunity for the Marine Corps to open up its backyard and welcome in the public,” adding “and at the same time provide a full day of entertainment.”
Greg added, “Credit for much of the show’s success goes to the Yuma-area businesses that help sponsor the event financially. Even during this time of recession, this past year we had a record level of sponsorships.”
McShane attributes the Airshow’s popularity to a greater emphasis on changing the acts from year to year so the event stays fresh. “There is no excuse to say, I was there a couple of years ago so I know what it’s all about.”
