Every year, the F-18 fighter jets and vintage warplanes of the Central Coast Airfest draws thousands out to the Santa Maria Airport to witness the weekend spectacle.
Some first-time visitors who say they usually hear the show from inside their homes, tell KSBY they came out Sunday to check it out from up close.
“F-16s, I’m looking forward to all the World War 2 planes, those look pretty cool too,” said Aden Sorenson, who was visiting the Airfest for the first time Sunday.
“You could feel them go over your house, and just feel them shake your body!” Kat Lotz added, recalling previous air shows she had heard in years prior.
Lotz says her Orcutt home is right underneath the flight path of the Central Coast Airfest, nothing that while some may have complaints about the extra noise this weekend, she views it as a privilege.
“The noise doesn’t bother me. I think it is a minimal tradeoff for what we get in our community,” Lotz added. “To see all the different generations of the airplanes, the technology, how far we have come.”
Heather Kunkle, whose family puts on the event, adds that since its first year in 2018, the Central Coast Airfest has become a yearly staple in the Santa Maria Valley and beyond.
“We have people traveling in from all over the US and beyond. We have people staying here for multiple days. Not only the performers, but also guests, vendors, you name it. It is a huge draw,” Kunkle explained. “We had approximately 20,000 people come out for the show last year, and we are looking at more this year.”
Throughout Sunday’s flight schedule, spectators took in the sights of a foreign warbird aerial display, C-17 flyovers, and aerobatic demonstrations from dozens of other military aircrafts.
“I loved planes, I especially love the military planes. It is just a symbol of freedom for me,” Kat Lotz said.
Meanwhile, Kunkle, who says she hails from multiple generations of pilots, says the annual Central Coast Airfest is her favorite weekend of the year.
“I love seeing a lot of the kids looking up at the sky, smiling. It brings a tear to a lot of people’s eye to see that, so it should be really special,” she said.
She says this year, the Airfest welcomed even more vintage warbirds and displays to be part of the weekend event, which she says was made possible by Chino based nonprofit, the Planes of Fame Museum.
Kunkle says the Planes of Fame Museum will be developing a new campus at the Santa Maria Airport, which should be under construction when the Central Coast Airfest takes flight next year.
