Author With New Book Decides To Enter Theme Park Business

By Maria Morrison

In the back corner of the EAA merchandise warehouse, Kermit Weeks is signing books for aviation enthusiasts of all ages. Three of his illustrated books and an additional one about the Martin Mars are all for sale at his table. As he signs them, he interacts with everyone, especially the younger kids.

With each book he signs, he draws a dashed line between an asterisk and a star, saying there are three steps that each person has to follow. “First,” he says, pointing at the asterisk at the beginning, “you have to light the spark inside you.”

“Next,” his finger goes to the star at the end, “you need to find your dreams and follow them. And life,” he traces the dotted line, “Is just about filling in the blanks.”

His newest book, Ostynn the Ostrich, is written in rhymes and has colorful illustrations but is geared towards adults. Its message elaborates on the story told to the kids at the table, featuring an ostrich whose head is caught in the sand. Once he ignites the spark inside him, he finds there is more to life and pulls his head out of the sand, desperate to be able to fly.

Kermit’s other two books, All of Life is a School and The Spirit of Lindy, are also available for purchase. One follows a young Gee Bee Z racer and his friends, and the other centers around Charles Lindbergh's plane, the Spirit of Saint Louis. The Martin Mars book, written by the wife of its owner, follows the story of the huge flying boat as he travelled as a firefighter.

Kermit Weeks brought the Martian Mars to Oshkosh from British Columbia. He has wanted to fly the craft for years but could never fit it in with the fire season. This year, the combination of desire from the EAA, the willingness of Mr. Weeks, and a lack of need in Canada allowed the Martin Mars to be flown to AirVenture over the course of two weeks. The flight took eight and a half hours.

Kermit Weeks is closing his museum in Florida, the Fantasy of Flight, at the end of July. It will be undergoing a complete remodel and refocusing of the museum. He plans to convert it into a theme park, hopefully one of many. “This character [Ostynn the Ostrich] will be my Mickey Mouse.”

What used to be the Fantasy of Flight museum will be the only one of the parks that has airplanes incorporated. He had to shut down the museum because he could no longer pay the lighting bill. Attendance was way down because “everybody thought it was just an old airplane museum,” says Weeks. “Fantasy of Flight has nothing to do with airplanes, but airplanes have everything to do with Fantasy of Flight.”

Weeks is using the story of Ostynn as a metaphor. Not only for unlocking one’s potential, but for reaching into other realities and dimensions. Kermit believes he is “standing on Walt Disney's shoulders,” and is “using entertainment as a means to engage reality, not escape reality.”

Kermit Weeks looks forward building the theme parks, envisioning parks that are “Disney quality, and eventually Disney scale... The airplanes that I have? That’s the least they’re going to remember me for.”

(Image provided by the author)

FMI: https://www.fantasyofflight.com