With regret we are announcing the cancellation of the 36th Annual West Coast Cub Fly-in 2020. The unfavorable situation of planning any large event for the coming months has been foremost on our minds. This week we saw two major indicators of advisable direction, one from a national event and one locally. Some of you have seen the announcement that AirVenture Oshkosh 2020 has been canceled. Additionally, our local Lompoc Flower Festival which would be celebrating its 68th year, has also announced its 2020 cancelation.
Since AirVenture lands one week behind our annual West Coast Cub Fly-in, it makes sense to follow their lead. In his announcement, Jack Pelton, National EAA CEO and chairman of the board, made several good points about the difficulty of logistics, and risk assessment as we face several unknowns going forward. (His announcement is a good read, and can be found on the AirVenture website). Though our event is a small fraction of the size and scope of AirVenture, these points ring true for our community too.
And locally, the Lompoc Flower Festival’s cancellation is both disappointing and an indicator of our ability to move forward with securing permits and approvals for the event. Like the West Coast Cub Fly-in, the Flower Festival has been a staple in our community for generations, and is also hosted in part by the City of Lompoc. The city provides our Fly-in with the space and the facilities for you, our guests. Our ability to anticipate and meet changing health guidelines is limited, and it would be a gamble to depend on the city to meet the event’s health and safety needs.
It’s reasonable to follow these national and local events as guides in this risky situation. As many of you know, this will put a severe strain on our ability to house the resources for the Fly-in as well as put a hardship on hosting the Fly-in next year. If you have any suggestions we’d like to hear them as we try to navigate the next 12 months together.
The West Coast Cub Fly-in is one of the finest single type Fly-in’s in the world. Thank you for your dedication and for keeping this community alive.
We hope everyone is staying safe and healthy, and we look forward to seeing you in 2021!
~Your friends at The West Coast Cub Fly-in