By Barbara A. Schmitz
For 51 weeks of the year, what EAA AirVenture Oshkosh visitors know as the EAA Seaplane Base is private property and empty of planes, people, campers, and tents.
But for one week each year, it’s a bit of Margaritaville, complete with a musician playing steel drums, floatplanes taxiing or taking off in the bay, children and adults splashing or swimming in the lake, and people enjoying the scenery and cool breezes.
Accessible from the EAA Bus Stop for a $3 round-trip ticket, the Seaplane Base offers a much more relaxed version of AirVenture. It’s the reason that Seaplane Base Chairman Shane Albers says that if you visit it once,
you’ll be back.
“The place is absolutely wonderful,” he said. “I encourage everyone to make time in their schedule to come here. Once you do, I guarantee it will become an annual stop year after year.”
That’s true for Tori and Sean Galegor, of Kansas City, Missouri, who were back with their three children ages, 1, 4, and 6. With Thursday’s heat, they decided it was the right place to start their AirVenture adventure, so after finishing setting up their campsite, they went to the Seaplane Base.
“We always come here for the atmosphere,” Tori said. “It’s so serene. And with the kids and the heat today, we wanted to be somewhere with more shade,” she said, as the kids splashed in the water nearby.
Don Strano, of Huntsville, Ontario, used to fly into the Seaplane Base regularly in his younger years and said he can’t believe how it’s changed.
“It’s more like a park now with all the trails, flowers, and facilities,” he said. “It’s just a beautiful spot.”
First-time Seaplane Base visitors Norm Conner, EAA 1238906, and Kris Sashko, both of Lakewood, Washington, said they were also impressed.
“I thought it would be wide open and sunny, but it’s nice to be able to sit by the trees,” said Norm. “And it’s definitely cooler here,” added Kris, who said she also wanted to see Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin’s largest inland lake.
“It’s like a beautiful paradise,” Norm said, and it almost makes you feel like you are in Tahiti or Hawaii.
William Greenley, EAA 433301, of Dowagiac, Michigan, was visiting the Seaplane Base for his third time. He’s spent the week working 10-hour days volunteering at the Learn to Fly Center on the main grounds, and said he just needed a break.
Shane said it takes a lot of work to get the property transformed into the Seaplane Base for one week, with 200-plus volunteers putting in more than 14,000 hours setting up, staffing, and tearing down. Their biggest need for volunteers is for certified and licensed boat captains who can give free pontoon boat rides up close to the seaplanes moored there, he said.
This year, the Seaplane Base has been home to about 50 seaplanes, which is down. Shane attributed that to fewer Canadian airplanes due to weather systems and smoke.
And even though the atmosphere is more relaxed, Shane said there is still a lot to do at the Seaplane Base. Besides the pontoon boat rides, there is a water-melon social on Friday night attended by 700-900, as well as flight demonstrations and FAA seminars.
The main thing he hears from visitors is that the energy is so different from the main field. “It is relaxed,” Shane said. “It is Margaritaville-esque. You will find people sleeping on the shoreline, leaning against trees. You really can’t describe it in words. You just need to come here and experience it.”