July 2005 Activities
Now Playing: (Events 40-45)
Topic: g - July 2005
(5 Activities in July)

EVENT #40 - ELLWOOD HOUSE ART FAIR - FREE
July 3, 2005

We operated a food booth at the Ellwood House Art Fair. We sold chicken wraps, sweetcorn, lemon shake-ups, pop, and funnel cakes. It was perfect weather for the outdoor festival.


EVENT #41 - HOPKINS PARK JULY 4 FESTIVAL - FREE
July 4, 2005

We operated a food booth at Hopkins Park for the 4th of July festival. The afternoon began with a drenching rainstorm. After that the weather cleared and it turned into a beautiful evening. We sold hot dogs, polish, sweetcorn, lemon shake-ups, and pop. The DeKalb Municipal Band played a great concert while a finale of fireworks filled the night sky with color in an awesome spectacle.


EVENT #42 - VOLUNTARY ACTION CENTER - FREE
July 5, 2005

We donated lemons, hot dogs, polish, and sweetcorn to the Voluntary Action Center. They provide meals for elderly and handicapped people in DeKalb County.


EVENT #43 - EQUIPMENT DAY - FREE
July 8, 2005

We had a day to clean up some of our equipment from the last two festivals. We got the fryer drain snaked out. It had been plugged up pretty good.


EVENT #44 - CAMP LOWDEN SUMMER CAMP - $185
July 17-23, 2005

The week was extremely hot, with a heat index well over 100 degrees on several days. Also some thunderstorms brought rain and excitement to punctuate the unbearable heat, just to keep things interesting.

The boys were involved in a variety of merit badges and had a very successful week of advancement. They also found time to enjoy riflery, archery, campfires, climbing wall, and the cool sactuary of the swimming pool on those hot days. Lots of fun games along with a great picnic meal were enjoyed at Family Night on Wednesday.

The staff was very well prepared and organized and very imaginative and funny during mealtime skits and campwide campfire programs. They made fun of Camp Director Bruce Small, with affection of course, and he responded as the perfect straight man. It was all in good fun and added greatly to the camp experience.


EVENT #45 - OSHKOSH AIRVENTURE - $90
July 29-31, 2005

They call it the World's Greatest Aviation Celebration. The event is sponsored by the EAA, Experimental Aircraft Association, which is headquartered in Oshkosh. The multi-day event drew about 750,000 people with average daily attendance of 150,000.

Among the hundreds of aircraft they saw fly was Virgin Atlantic's Global Flyer. Pilot Steve Fossett, made history last March when he soloed in the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer flying around the world in 67 straight hours. As a former Boy Scout, Steve Fossett had earned the rank of Eagle Scout, which he still regards as one of his proudest accomplishments.

We also saw "Glacier Girl", a World War II P-38 recovered from under 268 feet of ice from the Greenland icecap. After being buried for 50 years it was finally recovered and restored to flying condition. Of the more than 10,000 P-38s built, fewer than 10 remain airworthy today.

We saw SpaceShipOne and its carrier aircraft White Knight. These historic aircraft, which fly in tandem, made the first-and-only public air show appearance at AirVenture. From Oshkosh they flew directly to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C. where they will remain on display.

Another celebrity at the show was billionaire Sir Richard Branson, the man behind Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipOne and Virgin Atlantic's Global Flyer. While at Oshkosh, Branson announced a joint venture with business partner Burt Rutan, signing an agreement to form "The Spaceship Company", which plans to build the world’s first commercial passenger spacecraft.

We enjoyed mock WWII air battles featuring a fleet of B-17 bombers with fighter escorts, complete with an elaborate pyrotechnic show on the ground simulating a bombing run. Another highlight of the show were acrobatic planes doing amazing flying stunts. Each day was opened by a group of men parachuting out of a plane with giant American flags trailing beneath them.

The EAA Museum is large and impressive. We enjoyed exploring the museum and its hundreds of exhibits, especially the many hands-on demonstrations.

Acres of EAA grounds were covered with countless other static displays, exhibits, vendors, and sales promotions. We wandered the area barely having time to catch a glimpse of it all.

We camped onsite with 40,000 other campers and used bicycles to travel back and forth. The world's largest aviation celebration was very well run and well organized.

Visit the AirVenture online at... http://www.airventure.org/2005/news/050630_highlights.html