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Fourth of July Festivities in Tyler Texas

June 29th, 2011

Wings Over Tyler Air Show

Air Show in Tyler

Tyler Air Show, Wings Over Tyler

Tyler TX AirshowThere are quite a number of Independence Day festivities in the Tyler, East Texas area this year. Of course there will be the traditional fireworks display at Lindsey Field. In fact from what I read, quite a big crowd is anticipated this year. Throughout the day, there will be an assortment of activities and local charities and organizations will be sponsoring events. The cost is ten dollars per car load.

Living Alternatives in Lindale will also be holding its annual fireworks display again this year. This is a great day that’s really much more than just a fireworks show. There are all sorts of events and activities for the kids, including swimming, bounce houses, music and a variety of food vendors on hand. There is also a fishing tournament throughout the day. This is definitely one of my preferred Fourth of July events. Admission is free however a fifteen dollar donation is suggested. For more info see the following page: http://la4th.com/ .

Helicopter in Tyler TXFor those looking for activities throughout the holiday weekend there are a couple of very cool educational things I thought I’d plug. The Historic Aviation Memorial Museum (HAMM) will be holding a static air show display on Saturday, the second of July, the day before the Thunder over Cedar Creek Air Show. The museum holds this event every year as the pilots fly in to perform the following day. HAMM has made arraignments for their historic aircraft to be on display to the public. There is a moderate fee to get up close and personal with the aircraft, (I believe it was five dollars last year), but viewing from the fence line is obviously free. To see my review of last year’s static air show, click on the following link: http://www.tylertxdirectory.com/3027/celebrating-the-4th-in-tyler-tx/ .

Tyler Texas Air ShowFor Tylerites interested in going to an actual air show this year the “Wings Over Tyler Air Show,” will be on Sunday the third. Also at the HAMM terminal (the old Pounds field location for native East Texans), this event seems like kind of a long time coming for our area. It will feature a variety of performances and aircraft, and promises to bring out a lot of visitors. The entrance fee is twenty five dollars a car load, or five dollars per person. For more info on this event visit the following web sites: http://www.tylertxdirectory.com/9031/live-from-the-field-2/ ,http://www.wingsovertylerairshow.com/ .There are certainly other great celebrations in our area this year and a quick Google search will yield more results. But these are some of my personal favorites, and the ones in which I choose to participate. Happy Independence Day East Texas! And don’t forget to enjoy the grill this weekend!

Coming in July; the Wings of Tyler Air Show

May 21st, 2011

There’s a new event happening in Tyler this summer and it has the potential to draw a lot of attendees. It doesn’t happen until July 3rd but it’s the kind of thing I don’t often find out about until the morning of, so I thought this time I’d get out in front of this one. Of course I’m alluding to the “Wing’s Over Tyler Air Show.

The last few years the Historical Aviation Memorial Museum (HAMM) has sponsored what they call a static air show, which is essentially vintage and current military aircraft on display for the public. As fascinating as those shows were, this year’s show is complete with actual aeronautical and acrobatic performances by an assortment of pilots and aircraft. Now I’ve had the opportunity to attend some fairly major air shows in Houston and New Orleans, and I don’t expect this show to be on the scale of those larger events. However, it promises to be a tremendous occasion for our area. It’s also wonderfully timed coming on the weekend of the fourth of July. I find this to be a far more interesting and educational way to celebrate the nation’s independence, than simply pilling in the back of a truck and heading up to Lindsey Field to take in the fireworks. Not that there’s anything wrong with fireworks, but they do tend to lose their luster as I get older. I know my son and I are already looking forward to attending the air show.

There are a number of area groups sponsoring the show, including: the City of Tyler, the Chamber of Commerce, the Historical Aviation Memorial Museum, the Tyler Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Tyler Jet Center. There are also opportunities for other businesses to get in on the sponsorships. Gates will open at nine, but performances won’t actually kickoff until one. For more information on this great new event, visit the Wings Over Tyler, webpage at http://www.wingsovertylerairshow.com

HAMMs Hangar Dance

August 26th, 2010

​The very first article I wrote for Tyler TX Directory was a piece entitled World History is Down the Street, and It featured Tyler’s Historical Aviation Memorial Museum (HAMM).

In the past year and a half or so that I’ve been writing for the Directory I’ve referenced the museum a couple of times, including this past July when I covered a visit my son and I made to the museum’s annual static air show.

Well without meaning to write ad- nauseam on a particular topic I thought I would offer a little more free publicity to one of the HAMM’s upcoming fund raising events.

​Obviously, the Aviation Museum is a favorite in my house. We usually visit every couple of months or so, and that’s not counting the evenings we’ve spent sitting on the car while parked in the parking lot watching the planes take off and land.

Well it seems this September the museum is holding another event to help raise money for museum improvements and expenses. It’s called a Hanger Dance and features big band swing jazz of the 1940s courtesy of The Tyler Big Band, as well as period aircraft and other vehicles as a backdrop to the evening.

Guests are encouraged to dress in theme although it’s certainly not required. In the interest of full disclosure, I do like jazz, history, and airplanes but dancing is just not something I tend to enjoy.

In fact I reserve the activity fairly exclusively for weddings. But for those who do enjoy the activity, I can only imagine that this would be a really great event! Combine terrific music with the romance of the 1940s and the Second World War and you’ve got a really neat event.

​The Dance will be held on Saturday, September twenty fifth, at Tyler Jet Center, right next to the Museum, and will be catered by the Skyline Café, which is also housed in the Museum building.

The evening begins at six pm and runs until about ten. Admission is not particularly cheap at forty dollars per person, but proceeds go to a good cause. This is not the first such dance the HAMM has held by the way. In the past events like this one have helped to raise much- needed funds for museum improvements.

​For more information, on either the Museum or the Hanger Dance, visit their web page at http://www.tylerhamm.org/. To read my other articles on the Aviation Museum and its events simply click on the following links: http://www.tylertxdirectory.com/1236/world-history-is-down-the-street/, or http://www.tylertxdirectory.com/3027/celebrating-the-4th-in-tyler-tx/.

Celebrating the 4th in Tyler TX

July 19th, 2010

            This past weekend the Tyler area and the nation celebrated the country’s two hundred, thirty fourth birthday. In the wake of tough financial times the celebrations seemed to me a bit more muted than normal. News reports claimed that fewer Americans spent the usual dollars on fireworks and cook- outs than in previous years, while more people went out to watch big professional fireworks displays. I remember as a kid spending a lot of money on fireworks and even experimented with creating my out, (something I don’t recommend to young people today). But not this year. Instead my young son and I did what many families did this year; we took in some professional and inexpensive events that didn’t require us to go out of our way.

            Every year a number of local organizations put on an air show featuring contemporary and vintage military aircraft. These events seem to be held at different locations around East Texas, and admission is always very pricey. However as aircraft arrive the previous day, (the third) The Historical Aviation Memorial Museum (HAMM) holds what they call a “static air show.” Participating aircraft are put on display on the tarmac at the old Pounds Field terminal in Tyler, (now the location for the museum) prior to the main show. For five dollars, visitors can get up close and personal (in most cases) with some really unique and fascinating aircraft. This year’s cast included a C130, a couple of F16s, a couple of A10s, a B25, and others, in addition to the aircraft on permanent display. My little guy was fascinated by the exhibits (as was I by the way), and enjoyed the opportunity to climb in and around the C130 Hercules in particular. This is a really neat event that is inexpensive and helps to raise a little money for a great area institution.

            The rest of our weekend was rather subdued I introduced the boy to the joy of sparklers and few other rudimentary fireworks (a gift from friends) and that night we walked up the street to watch much larger display put on by our community. I don’t think this admittedly mundane story is much different than the one most folks are telling this year. Hopefully, the decline in festivities is merely symptomatic of the fact that collectively, we’re not in a partying mood and doesn’t indicate that we are forgetting the reason for the season (if I can borrow a badly misapplied cliché).  But it’s often the small events that we remember. And hopefully, in years to come, my son will be able to reflect on the year “we saw the airplanes and the lights,” with fond nostalgia.  

            For more on the Historical Aviation Memorial Museum, see their website at www.tylerhamm.org. Also see the following articles on this site: Cultural Institutions and Events in Tyler TX, and World History is Down the Street.