Nowhere is the sense of community stronger at AirVenture than among the crowd at the Dick VanGrunsven Homebuilt Camping Pavilion. Tucked away on the western edge of Homebuilt Camping, the open-air pavilion offers picnic tables, charging stations, comfortable Adirondack-style chairs, reasonably priced ice chest rentals and ice, morning coffee, and—most of all—comradery.
Like nearly everything at Oshkosh, volunteers make this world hum. Over the next week, we plan to introduce you to some of them. If you visit or hang out at the pavilion, you can recognize these folks by their red volunteer shirts and caps.
One of the busiest people in the Pavilion is Carol Beaird from Hicks Field (T67) northwest of Fort Worth, Texas. She and her partner, Jay Pratt, are long-time AirVenture regulars who fly in every year—this time by way of Johnson Creek, Idaho. When the Pavilion was completed, they started helping out with whatever needed doing. By the end of the second year, the Homebuilt Camping Chair at the time, Jerry Fischer, asked them to officially volunteer, and they eagerly joined the staff.
They now arrive at least a week early to jump into the setup tasks. That means cleaning grime off the chairs and grills, ensuring the rental ice chests are spotless, distributing tables, preparing the coffee bar, and posting signs.
During the week, Carol describes herself as a “cleaning woman.” She ensures that the tables, grills, and everything else stays clean. AirVenture attendees are a great lot for keeping things tidy, but when a storm blows through and floods parts of the pavilion—as happened on Wednesday—someone has to take responsibility for cleaning up the mud and debris. Carol also waters the potted plants the EAA puts out to make the area more inviting. In return, like all full-time volunteers at AirVenture, she and Jay are given week-long passes, free meals, and free camping.
I asked Carol when the first non-volunteers started showing up at Homebuilt Camping this year. The first arrivals were on Tuesday, looking to get in ahead of predicted bad weather, which sure enough arrived on Wednesday and early Thursday. She said the next arrivals weren’t until a steady line of planes came in late Thursday afternoon. Around noon on Friday, the pace picked up as the weather was beautiful and another storm was on the forecast horizon.
If you come to AirVenture and make it to the Homebuilt Camping area, please remember to thank Carol, Jay, and the other volunteers who make the place such a welcoming community. For more stories from the flight line and beyond, stay tuned to Kitplanes.com.
