Terre Haute prepares for 60,000 at upcoming air show
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO) – Staff at the Terre Haute Regional Airport are feeling the pressure of making the 2018 Terre Haute Air Show live up to expectations.
Dave Patterson with the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau says those expectations are for this year’s show, Aug. 18-19, to be the biggest two-day event in Terre Haute history.
The next 10 days crews will help with setup, which is no easy task. But, for the show itself, featuring the three top acts in the world and some aircraft that are the only of their kind flying in the world, it’s going to be big.
About 1,500 posts were placed into the ground and soon three miles of fence will be installed to corral the more than 60,000 anticipated guests. Some tents went up Wednesday for a variety of vendors and already 40,000 tickets have been sold.
“It’s a great financial resource. Can tell you economic impact’s going to be somewhere around $15 million, that’s if we have 50,000, 60,000 people, which I think we’ll easily have. It’s a wonderful thing for our community,” Patterson said.
You have until next Friday to purchase tickets. They’re $20 at the gate, $15 if you buy online.
Aug. 18 we’ll see a large population increase on the city’s east side, which will also impact traffic. State Road 42 will be closed, and visitors will have to take a detour to get into the show.