Gary Air Show Grounded For 2018
The city of Gary has announced the Gary Air Show will not take place for the second consecutive year. Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson says the expenses required to put on the show would hinder the city’s efforts to become financially stable.
The mayor released the following statement regarding the show’s cancellation.
At the beginning of 2018, I expressed our intentions to get our finances right. Specifically, I talked about the fact that we would actively cultivate opportunities to increase our assessed valuation while looking at every dollar. This has been the primary focus of our work this year. While we are developing our long term financial recovery plan, we have frozen spending and hiring and reduced spending while embracing opportunities to attract new businesses to the table. This has required focus, discipline and sacrifice. We know that the short-team difficulty will be rewarded with long-term benefits.
While the Gary Air Show is one of the city’s signature events, it is also a costly event. In past years when we have maximized sponsorship dollars, we have still been forced to expend city resources. For 2018, these expenditures are not consistent with our efforts to develop a sustainable financial plan. For these reasons, there will not be an Air Show for 2018. At the same time, we are actively engaged with a sponsor who will sponsor a 2019 show with zero costs to the city.
The city says planning for the 2019 Gary Air Show will begin this summer with the formation of a 2019 Air Show Committee. The committee’s first meeting is scheduled for June 19.