Sun ‘n Fun Dries Out
With a day of rain gone, the weather cleared in Lakeland Wednesday and the mud dried, but show organizers said first-day attendance still took a hit. Sun ‘n Fun president John “Lites” Leenhouts joked that hotels in northern Florida were calling to say thanks, as many pilots were stopped cold by an intense line of weather Tuesday. “There’s no question we took a hit,” Leenhouts said Wednesday, but because advance sales were up, “we’re on par with where we were in 2017.”
With a day of rain gone, the weather cleared in Lakeland Wednesday and the mud dried, but show organizers said first-day attendance still took a hit. Sun 'n Fun president John "Lites" Leenhouts joked that hotels in northern Florida were calling to say thanks, as many pilots were stopped cold by an intense line of weather Tuesday. "There's no question we took a hit," Leenhouts said Wednesday, but because advance sales were up, "we're on par with where we were in 2017."
Leenhouts said Wednesday's storm was the worst the event has seen since the tornadoes of 2011 and vendors we spoke to reported slow foot traffic in the commercial hangars. Abundant sunshine evidently made up for any losses on Wednesday. "They're coming, it was just a bad day," Leenhouts said. Mike Wolf, CEO of Sporty's Pilot Shop, told AVweb that sales on Wednesday alone put total commercial activity above last year's peak. "And we had a very good year last year," he said.
Leenhouts said one big draw is the ongoing career fair being held at Sun 'n Fun. Representatives of major airlines and aerospace companies are conducting interviews and with airlines struggling to fill cockpits, and some are making job offers on the spot. AVweb continues daily coverage of Sun 'n Fun through the weekend.
