The morning sun was blinding as we wound our way toward the airport, detouring around freshly barricaded intersections. Signs had warned of closures all week, but somehow the scope still caught me off guard.
Main streets were closed, the town ready for its annual Parade of Planes as part of the Heritage of Flight Festival.
We took an alternate route to the airport and flew up to the restoration shop for the day.
Prepping for Parade Day
The new tow bar had arrived just in time, delivered the week before the parade.
It would be our first year participating, as we were using a tow bar instead of rope previously used. The change was overdue; towing with a rope puts unnecessary wear on the gear legs of tailwheel airplanes.
Flying home on Friday night, I wished I’d taken a moment for a photo. The town was completely packed—Ferris wheel turning on Main Street, classic cars staged in the side lots, and people everywhere.
Between the airport and town, every available patch of grass seemed to hold a parked car.
Morning Adjustments and Staging
We made a few early-morning adjustments to protect paint on the struts before joining the lineup. Airplanes were staged in the field next to the clubhouse, wings gleaming under the rising sun.
Nearby, several pedal planes were lined up as well – miniature aircraft waiting their turn to be towed by golf carts and mowers.
Parade logistics tend to involve creative problem-solving. Antique tractors usually handle the towing duties, but with this year’s harvest underway, many were unavailable.
So lawn mowers, golf carts, and pickup trucks filled in.
Hazel the Hatz joined the lineup this year alongside Nell, the Aeronca C-2.
Featured on this year’s patch was Mooney Mite, an aircraft that the other restorer rebuilt years ago in his “past life.”
The Mite is such a charming little airplane—its mechanical gear retracts in a quick, deliberate motion that always surprises people. It’s now owned by the son of one of our airport friends and a second-generation pilot and farmer in his own right.
He tends to the fields that border the runway, so seeing him with the Mite felt like the full circle of aviation and agriculture intertwined.
We were nestled between Hazel the Hatz and a Luscombe Deluxe just behind us finishing the parade.
The Parade
A Yak streaked overhead with smoke as the parade began, signaling our cue to roll forward.
Being towed along the parade route in daylight was a different sort of thrill—slower than flying, but just as attention-grabbing.
The streets were lined with families and waving kids, cotton candy in hand. My arms ached long before we reached the end of the parade route, but it was worth every smile.
Reflections and Traditions
An airport friend told me his wife makes Christmas ornaments out of parade patches, stitching two years back to back before hanging them on the tree. It’s a sweet tradition—and a good reminder that we should remember candy for next year.
This was the restorer’s first time on the parade route since taxiing a Cherokee overnight years ago as a proving run before the inaugural parade. He joked that being towed in daylight was far less nerve-wracking.
The day left us thinking about how an emergency landing on a road might feel—you’d use both lanes, every inch of width, just as we did inching down Main Street between the cheering crowd.
By the end of it all, the airplanes were dusty but intact, and the smiles on everyone’s faces made it worth the effort. Nell, Hazel, the Mite, and the Luscombe shone like trophies of a community that still celebrates its aviation roots right alongside funnel cakes and Ferris wheels.
If you’d like to revisit how the Parade of Planes tradition began, you can find last year’s post here.
✈️ Explore More
🛩 Hazel the Hatz – an award-winning open-cockpit biplane and favorite at fly-ins and parades.
👩🔧 Mama’s Chief – ongoing restoration updates.
⭐️ Sis My North Star – reflections on flying, focus, and the airplane that started it all.
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