OCEAN CITY – All eyes will turn to the sky for Ocean City’s Air Show Weekend on Sept. 14 and 15. All events are free to attend, and the early forecasts call for sunny and clear skies.
The celebration starts with the Ocean City Airport Festival, 26th Street and bay Avenue, on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The festival features a ground display of unusual airplanes ranging from World War II planes to warbirds and classics. The event will feature a parachute jump from Team Fastrax, “America’s Skydiving Team.”
The skydiving team will perform at the Airport Festival at 12 p.m., depending on wind and weather conditions. Ocean City Council President Pete Madden is scheduled to make a tandem jump.
A half-mile “Runway Run/Walk” will return and is open to all ages. It offers a chance for anybody to cover ground normally traversed only by planes. The run will go off immediately after the skydiving jump. Children’s activities will include airplane and coloring contests between 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. All-day activities include “Bubble Mania,” face-painting, helicopter rides available for purchase, city vehicle displays and special guests Martin and Mollie Mollusk.
The Parachute Pyrotechnic Show will go off over Ocean City at 8 p.m. Saturday. The show consists of several highly trained and specially licensed Team Fastrax parachuters exiting an aircraft 6,000 feet above Ocean City’s beach and boardwalk.
The Boardwalk Aerobatic Air Show will bring some of the best stunt pilots and aerobatic champions in the nation to put on a show over the beach and boardwalk starting at 1 p.m. Sunday. Some of the performers will include:
– Rick Volker Air Shows: Volker pushes the boundaries of both low- and high-speed limits, and artfully creates a masterpiece of entertainment.
– Jersey Jerks: The “Jerks” are highly experienced and trained formation pilots who have been a part of the Warbird community for most of their lives.
– Full Throttle Formation Team: Aviation professionals in military and commercial aircraft. They fly “Van’s Aircraft” experimental aircraft.
– Team Fastrax: The team will make a jump to open the show.
Thousands of spectators typically soak up some of the final days of the calendar summer as they watch the spectacle from the beach and boardwalk. The show is best viewed from the area between Fifth Street and 14th Street. There is no rain date for any of the shows, and air performances may be canceled if weather conditions do not allow for safe flying.