By Chuck Fisher, EAA Chapter 35 Vice President
EAA Chapter 35 is a group of approximately 135 aviation-minded folks in San Antonio, Texas. We are fortunate to have a great clubhouse and large hangar/building facility of our own. In keeping with the EAA chapter mantra that the single most important thing for chapter health is to “do something,” a group of members started planning to build an Adirondack chapter chair and deliver it to AirVenture as part of the EAA program where chapters build, decorate, and donate a chapter Adirondack chair to the Blue Barn. What a cool idea.
Then in early 2020, the planet did a ground loop. We did not yet know what was coming, but we knew that we were in for a siege and indoor gatherings were not likely to happen. Here is where our Adirondack chair enters the story.
We had planned to get together to build the Adirondack chair as part of our annual clubhouse and grounds cleanup and maintenance day, then we had an idea. How about making an outdoor venue for gatherings and social events? It’d be safer, and maybe give us the latitude to do things we could no longer do indoors.
The project lead recommended a slightly simpler adaptation and the chapter members teamed up and filled the building hangar with saws and wood for a day. So rather than build one Adirondack chair, the chapter built another 10, and another picnic table as well. By the end of the day our chapter grounds held 11 Adirondack-style chairs and seven picnic tables. So, after a long morning of work, the chapter members had landscaped the grounds, touched up the paint, and created an inviting outdoor venue for chapter gatherings, events, and fly-ins.
Using a big screen, we used the chairs to create a theater for outdoor movie nights. In a circle, they became sort of a campfire ring, and these days members linger for hours after our gatherings “around the campfire.” Flight instructors and Young Eagles pilots meet there, and as an added benefit, we found our airpark neighbors came to love them as a neighborhood gathering point.
The Adirondack chairs became a means by which neighbors, members, and friends could continue to socialize while maintaining a safe distance outdoors. They allowed us to resume official outdoor gatherings as soon as municipal restrictions allowed, and they continue to provide a means for our members to enjoy the clubhouse and grounds in a way that they feel safe doing so, both during events and any other day or time.
Thank you EAA for inspiring us to build them.
EAA chapters are invited to build their own chapter Adirondack chair embellished with their unique chapter motif and donate it to the Chapters Blue Barn at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Learn more about the EAA Chapter Adirondack Chair program.