Lodging Panel Funds YAKS and Farm-City Banquet

Keep your eyes on the skies this weekend as the Lamar Municipal Airport is hosting as many as 30 YAK Red Star airplanes, members of the Pilots Association YAK event. Airport manager, Eric McSwann told the Prowers Lodging Panel board of directors, approximately 60 people will be involved in this annual event which showcases the gathering of YAK-52 airplanes from Russia and their Chinese counterparts and allows members of the YAK Red Star Pilots Association to hold practice flights for a weekend.

Chinese Built YAK at Lamar Airport

McSwann received $500 to be used to offset contract fees at the airport. For the past several years, YAK owners and enthusiasts converge on Lamar for several days of precision flying, some of which is showcased in southeast Colorado during football season.  “We’ve had some planes conduct a fly-by for area football teams, passing over stadiums and emanating a colored smoke stream,” said McSwann who added, “This year, we hope to have enough planes to do several stadiums all at once this Friday and on Sunday evening, we plan to have every aircraft spiraling upwards to about 14,000 feet at which point they’ll descend, streaming smoke for a visual display.”

Kendra Buchanan, President of the Lamar Chamber of Commerce, received $2,500 for marketing for the annual Farm-City Banquet, set for Friday, November 8^th at the Lamar Community Building.  Entertainment this year will be a band from Denver, by way of Wiley, Colorado.  “They’re called ‘The Black Salt’,” Buchanan explained during the September 17^th meeting at the chamber offices.  “They mostly perform their own music, so we can expect to hear a mixture of music, probably some country and some rock,” she explained.

Panel members are working to produce a 2020 budget for review by the Prowers County Commissioners. The annual document is needed by mid-October to allow the commissioners time to complete the comprehensive financial assessment as mandated by the State of Colorado.  Commissioner, Ron Cook, liaison to the Panel, said the county needs the budget by October 8^th.  Panel members have a new equation to deal with this year with the addition of hiring the firm, VistaWorks to produce a county-wide annual advertising campaign, something that has never before been included in their budget.

The Panel accepted the follow-up assessment from Danielle Wollert who received funding this past year for the Colorado Junior Rodeo Association Year-End Finals. The Lodging Panel is funded by a 2% motel tax assessed through the year and part of the criteria of re-funding annual events is documentation which gives an approximate number of overnight visitors the event generated.  157 families attended the July event of which 72 rooms were booked for 3.5 nights.  43 rooms were booked the year before.  Those receiving funds are given 45 days following their event to submit a summary report which helps determine any future funding they may request.

By Russ Baldwin