Havre's annual Air Fair set for Sept. 9

Editor's note: This version corrects that the Air Fare breakfast is free with free-will donations accepted.

A tradition more than eight decades long continues next week, with the North Central Hangar of the Montana Pilot's Association hosting the Air Fair Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Havre City-County Airport.

"One of our goals here is to bring awareness to the public that we actually do have an airport, and it's a fairly busy airport, when you look at a community this size," airport Manager Tony Dolphay said. "A lot of people just bring their kids up for an airplane ride ... and seldom spend much time at the airport."

Air Fair breakfast will begin around 7 a.m. Sept. 9. The event is expected to end around 11 a.m., however the event has gone until noon during prior events, so that is also possible. Havre Lions Club will be serving biscuits and gravy, eggs and sausage, coffee and juice for the breakfast.

Dolphay said they are changing things up a bit this year. In the past, the hanger charged for the breakfast.

"This year it's going to be a free-will donation. We'll see how that goes," he said. "The community has supported us well in the past, and I believe they will continue to do so."

Depending on the weather, children will have an opportunity to go up in small airplanes and experience the thrill of flying.

The first officially documented fly-in breakfast was hosted in 1941, the same year that the first airport board was formed and the first paved runway was laid. Grass was used to land on, prior to the paved runways.

Willie Hurd is an enthusiast for flying and a recreational pilot as well as the president of the North Central Hangar and also president of a local flying club with about a dozen members.

"Willie is the spark plug for a lot of the pilots around here," Dolphay said.

Hurd said local residents may not be aware of the freight operations at the airport and how much Havre utilizes air travel for many shopping needs.

"Do you ever get anything from Amazon? Do you know how it gets here? It flies in, just about all of it... There are two planes full of Amazon boxes from about the first of November all the way through Christmas," Hurd said, "I think people need to know that in the Havre area. They're using the airport, though they don't know it."

The airport also is where Cape Air provides the Essential Air Service to the area with passenger flights to and from Billings, as well as the starting points for medical lifeflights.

Dolphay said not many work to make everything happen at the airport.

Fewer than a dozen employees are needed to operate and keep the flow of the airport going, "to make it all happen, day in and day out," Dolphay said.

Hurd said the purpose of the North Central Hangar is to promote and encourage safe aviation.

"We encourage young people to get involved in aviation, we offer scholarships for them," Hurd said, "Our statewide organization have, just in the last few years, gone from a $2,000 scholarship to three $4,000 scholarships. Two of those scholarships are for young people getting their pilot license."

"The newest one is for mechanics. We have a huge shortage of aircraft mechanics right now. We also have a huge shortage of airline pilots right now," Hurd added.