They came from near and far on Sunday to attend the 18th Annual Fly-in and Pork Chop Dinner at the Maple Lake Airport on Sunday, and no one walked away disappointed.
Airplanes on their way to the airport began filling the skies over Maple Lake at about 10:30 a.m. Pilots of a wide variety of aircraft were happy to mingle with local residents and discuss everything from vintage aircraft to the latest thing in experimental aircraft.
And there were local folks with some high-flying stories of their own.
Todd and Chris Dahlgren of Maple Lake, and their children, Nikolaus and Kristian, were pleased to see the Navy N3N3 1949 bi-plane that Todd’s father, Marv of St. Paul, used for his 80th birthday celebration last week. On that big occasion, Marv, a Minnesota Orchestra percussionist for nearly 48 years, did some aerobatic flying in the plane, owned by Capt. Don Sigried Larson. The plane, which is housed at the Wings Museum in Anoka County, was similar to the one Marv flew as a Navy pilot in World War II and it also served for 20 years as a training aircraft for Navy midshipmen at Annapolis.
But Marv’s birthday party didn’t end there. He also flew a helicopter for the first time, did some skydiving, spent the afternoon teaching at Music Tech in St. Paul and spent the evening playing drums and vibes in the Artist’s Quarter.
And the Fly-In marked the end of more than three years of effort by Maple Lake resident Mike Reid with the display of his Vans RV-8A airplane, which began its journey to the sky in the Reid’s basement on Maple Avenue. From there, it progressed to the garage and finally finished at the Buffalo Airport. Reid’s plane, which boasts the 300,000th Lycoming engine, was FAA certified on February 19 and first took to the air on March 24.
Event organizers estimated that from 75 to 100 planes flew in to the airport during the event, with nearly 400 pork chop dinners served. Mike Ackerman of Monticello was the winner of the propeller clock hand-carved by Marv Sikkila of Buffalo. In addition, 15 youngsters were signed up for free Young Eagles rides to be scheduled for this fall.
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