Settling things

Mud. After nearly three inches of rain over the past week, we’re dealing with ground that is not very sturdy in the prime areas where we’re looking to place building and the like. It’s been back and forth between rain and dry over the last month, so hopefully we’ll get things on a more consistent level in the coming days. In places where grass exists, we’re starting to see things green up a little.

We are moving some buildings around, though. The Partner Resource Center, which is the facility used by exhibitors, advertisers and other sponsors, is heading to its new location a few hundred feet east of its previous location north of Exhibit Hangar C.

In other areas, footings are being poured for buildings. The phone company is here connecting the hundreds of phone lines that exist right in the Exhibit Hangar area. Water supplies are being run to the food locations, and grading contractors are getting ready to put down the porous asphalt that will be on the angled walkways starting at the Main Gate.

Even the landscapers are ready, although the rain has slowed their ability to get things grass and shrubs started on the grounds.

H.G. Frautschy notes that a couple of administrative structures in back of the Vintage Aircraft Red Barn have gone away. The small computer ops building has been demolished, since those functions will be in the new Vintage hangar. Also, the while trailer that served as an administrative office will be rolled away from that area.


In Warbirds, we brought down a small building near the warbirds tower to make room for the new pavilion building that I described a couple of months back.

One final thing that you’ll notice on the grounds this year are what we’re calling “wayfinding stations.” These towers will include maps and information to better move around the grounds. We’ll start with five towers in strategic places on the site. One will be located at the EAA Welcome Center just west of AeroShell Square. Others will be on the flight line, at Warbirds, Homebuilt Aircraft area, Vintage and Ultralights. We’re doing the final tweaks to the design right now, and I’m eager to show you what they’ll look like in the next couple of weeks.

We’re inside three months to opening day, so things are definitely speeding up here in Oshkosh!