UPDATE: Allan Blunt kindly sent a link to his photo gallery from the Grassroots fly-in. Check out some very nice pics HERE.
While we do not have an official tally, there were at least 200 aircraft of all types in attendance over the long weekend of the Midwest Antique Airplane Club “Grassroots” fly-in hosted by Cheeseland Chapter EAA 431 at Brodhead Airport. Just a guess, but I’ll bet there were over 1,000 people over the three days as well. While Saturday was rather hot, it was good flying weather all weekend until a low overcast came in Sunday morning. As of noon on Sunday though, all but a lone J-3 Cub had left for home and Brodhead Airport was pretty well deserted.
We would like to thank everybody at MAAC and of course, all those who made the trip from near and far to make this such a great event. Thanks too to the Brodhead High School Yearbook Club and instructor Bobbi Miller (see picture below) for putting on the Saturday evening dinner. They, along with Ray Miller put in a awful lot of work to serve up Ray’s famous pork chops. The proceeds from Saturday’s dinner go to the club and give the Chapter 431 members a well-deserved break for the night.
Looking back after a long weekend, it is very gratifying for the volunteers and members of Chapter 431 to see such a successful and safe event and we all appreciate the nice comments we received from those who came in by air or by land. Its amazing to talk to the pilots who flew in from California, Maryland, Florida, Texas and all over the Midwest who say they wouldn’t miss Grassroots at Brodhead for anything. Cross-country flights in antique airplanes can be quite an experience and we recognize the effort you all put in to get here. It makes the hard work to put this event on worthwhile.
Be sure to check our photo gallery and please send us any good shots or links to your own galleries.