They Can Do it; Why Can’t We?

Is there something wrong with Springfield? Why do we struggle (and then give up) to put on an air show but Rockford can draw huge crowds?

ROCKFORD — People showed up in record numbers for AirFest 2007.

Event organizers estimate that 140,000 people showed up for the three-day event. That tops last year’s attendance of 75,000.

Maybe Rockford draws from the western suburbs of Chicago. But considering every summer there also is an air show on Chicago’s lakefront to the east, a Quad Cities display to the southwest, and to the north the nation’s largest air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, I’d say they did pretty well.