Car enthusiasts and aviation buffs made their way to the Vero Beach Regional Airport on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend for an inaugural Wings and Wheels Exhibition: A Celebration of Aviation and Automobiles, sponsored by the City of Vero Beach.
Out on the tarmac, approximately 60 cars and a dozen planes attracted a steady stream of admirers, with youngsters also drawn to the Vero Beach Police Department Humvee support vehicle, Indian River County Sheriff’s Office helicopter and Indian River County Fire Rescue truck.
Inside the terminal, members of the local Experimental Aircraft Association Youth Outreach Program offered youngsters the chance to fly their own ‘aircraft’ using a flight simulator.
Other booths inside included Elite Airways – which expects to resume flights from Vero by April once the runway resurfacing project is completed – Gold Star Mothers, Antique Auto Club of America (AACA) and the FAA Safety Team.
Explaining the event’s genesis, Kathleen (Cathi) Canal said the idea came from her husband Phil, who worked 30 years for the Federal Aviation Administration and is a member of the FAA Safety Team for Vero Beach Airport. He proposed the concept to airport director Todd Scher, who brought it to the Airport Commission and the Vero Beach City Council. They liked the idea and decided to sponsor it.
“Part of it was driven by the fact that we didn’t get the Blue Angels last year, and there wasn’t any kind of activity this year. The airport’s growing and we thought it would be nice to have something in an off year,” she said.
The Canals, proud owners of a 1967 Lincoln Continental, are members of the AACA and volunteered to find the cars. Airport personnel connected with plane owners with hangar space at the airport to see if they might be interested.
“We wanted one car at least from every decade from 1920 to 2020, and we did that,” said Cathi Canal, noting that the oldest was a 1929 Dodge Senior, and the newest was a 2020 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye. “And then we also have all eight generations of Corvettes on display.”
To control the number of cars and ensure each decade was represented, they made it an invitational event.
“All of us are volunteers. There was no charge for the exhibitors and there was no charge for spectators, but we had no budget either, so it’s kind of a zero-money event. The other thing is we wanted things that the kids would be interested in. So it’s not just one generation of people, it’s all ages and all ages of vehicles,” she said. “I think the really important thing is that everybody worked together to make this happen. Everybody did their little piece.”
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels are expected to return April 30 to May 1, 2022, and plans are already underway to host another Wings and Wheels Exhibition next fall.
Photos by Kaila Jones
