The Vanderhoof Folks Really Don't Know When To Quit

Years ago, I journeyed well North of Seattle to go to a funky little airshows in the middle of nowhere... Vanderhoof, British Columbia, to be exact.

It turned out to be the best little airshow I'd been to... before or since. I keep promising myself to go back, even though it's been decades since that great few days, and maybe I will... because the folks running the show right now still seem tremendously motivated to keep the show and its indomitable spirit alive.

A few months ago, the 2020 event had to be called off due to the COVID scare, and was but one of many shows to fall to this malady. The 2020 show was originally scheduled to be held at the Vanderhoof Airport on August 1 & 2.

Still... the Vanderhoof folks really don't know when to quit.

Until the 2021 edition, the Vanderhood folks have elected to undertake the "Great Regional AirHug of 2020," instead.

"We still wanted to find a way to reach out to our communities with hope and inspiration for these challenging times. If we are not able to bring people to the airshow, it is our plan to bring at least a small part of the airshow to the people of our districts and villages. To that end, we are working towards an alternate event we call “The Great Regional Air Hug” which will consist of an organized multi-aircraft flyover of our entire region! We will have aircraft of varying types and sizes, including some of our airshow performers, soaring through the valley overhead. A few adorning the sky with airshow smoke!"

The goal is to route the aircraft over Prince George, Vanderhoof, Fort St. James, Fort Fraser, and possibly even as far as Burns Lake, including the First Nations communities of Nak’azdli, Saik’uz, Nadleh Whut’en, and Stellat’en. They state that all they want to do is their guests, community members and staff, customers and their families know that, "we are still here, we are proud to be Northerners, we are resilient, and we will be back, better than ever."

The current map, just finalized a short while ago,  shows flights over Vanderhoof, Saik'uz, Cluculz Lake, Prince George, Fort St. James, Nak'azdli, Endako, Stellat'en, Fraser Lake, Nadleh Whut'en, Fort Fraser, Engen and many points in between -- all scheduled for August 15th between 12:00 Noon and 1:00 pm. Aircraft already promised, include two Harvards, a Yak-18T, a Nanchang CJ-6A, a Tiger Moth, a Cessna 337 and a variety of other smaller aircraft.

FMI: https://www.vanderhoofairshow.ca/