A committee comprised of about a dozen residents and several Gary city officials is about to begin efforts to resurrect the Gary Air Show that was cancelled this year.
City officials said in April there would be no event this summer, but recruited volunteers to work on bringing it back next year.
The committee will meet for the first time at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 26, at City Hall, following meetings of the common council’s finance and planning committees.
Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said the city had no problem finding volunteers.
“It’s not just the usual suspects who are going to be part of this effort,” she said. “We have a committee of volunteers, then there’s the internal committee of officials they’ll work with to guide them along.”
She could not say how often the committee would meet or when a decision would be made regarding a show in 2019. The key, she said, is whether the city can find a corporate sponsor to pay the bulk of the tab for staging such an event.
“It won’t be good if the city were to have to pick up all the expense,” she said.
The Gary Air Show, held in past years along Lake Michigan near Marquette Park, last occurred in 2016. Officials have said staging is complicated, involving the Gary/Chicago International Airport, Marquette Park and the city’s shoreline along Lake Michigan.
Financial problems caused it to be cancelled in 2013 and 2014. It was resurrected in 2015 and held again the following year, with such corporate sponsors as the Majestic Star Casino, Centier Bank and Boeing. A lack of sponsors doomed it last year.
More Top Picks Best Scanning Pens For Exams
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.