Pilots and aviation enthusiasts alike gathered in New Holstein on Sunday, July 21, to share their passion for flight.
The New Holstein Super Cub Fly-In started in 2002 and was designed to bring people together who had been following the SuperCub.org website.
Steve Johnson started the website as a way to provide valuable information to those interested in Super Cubs. To Steve’s surprise, the site got a lot of attention, so much that they decided to make an event so those interacting through the website could finally meet.
Seventeen years later, the event has grown beyond what Steve imagined. Roughly 60-150 attendees and campers will show up in total from Friday through Tuesday.
“Everyone in the city gets involved,” said Steve Johnson, event organizer, “We invite the mayor, the chief of police, and a lot of city workers will come out and spray for mosquitos and do all sorts of things for us.”
Although New Holstein is 40 miles away from EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, the feeling was all too familiar; a bunch of like-minded individuals coming together to celebrate their love of aviation.
The event started on Friday and will go until Wednesday when buses will take New Holstein campers and event attendees to AirVenture for the rest of the week.
A little bad weather couldn’t keep the fun down. Pilots flew out to Jay Bateman’s near Green Bay for breakfast on Saturday and returned for the annual pig roast that night.
“One hundred or so people show up and come from Oshkosh for the roast,” Steve said. “We use this event as a way to thank our several volunteers from the city. These community meals bring people together. You end up talking to someone who maybe you hadn’t talked to before. So when we designed this event, this was something that we consciously did, building in these catered meals.”
Sunday kicked off with EAA Chapter 237 hosting a pancake breakfast followed by EAA Young Eagles flights. STOL demos began at 1:00 p.m.
“After the STOL demos, we have a flour drop event where we set a big orange target out, we put little kids in the back of an airplane, and they drop flour bags to try to hit the target,” Steve said.
About 30 STOL aircraft, including Kevin Quinn from the Flying Cowboys, participated in the STOL demos.
“This is my fourth year coming to New Holstein. I love coming to this event. Steve Johnson does such a great job, and a big part of my favorite thing coming to all these type of events is it’s a gathering of like-minded individuals and a celebration of aviation,” Kevin said. “It’s nothing but a pure pleasure to be able to come here and participate.”
On Monday New Holstein attendees packed into buses and headed to AirVenture for “Oshkosh Day.”
“We load a bunch of people on a bus, head over to AirVenture, and head back to camp here. Tuesday is Washington Island Fly-Out Day, and on Wednesday people will head out to Oshkosh and enjoy the rest of the week at AirVenture!” Steve said.
“Whether you’re at Oshkosh or New Holstein, it really just feels like a big family reunion,” Kevin said.