Chamber’s show just didn’t fly

Kootenai County knows how to have fun in the summer.

From Car d’Lane to Art on the Green, from the Julyamsh powwow to Ironman USA Coeur d’Alene, from the Fourth of July fireworks display on Lake Coeur d’Alene to Balloonfest, something major’s going on almost every weekend on or near the county’s famed waterways.

That’s why it didn’t seem so far-fetched earlier this year for some boosters to dream of another spectacular event to add to the summer lineup – an airshow at the Kootenai County airport with all the trimmings, including 160 aircraft, sky divers, precision flying teams and military fly-bys. Sponsored by the Hayden Chamber of Commerce, the first Thunder Over the Prairie Airshow delivered on its promises to provide high-flying fun to the thousands who attended the event last month. Unfortunately, not enough thousands attended. As a result, chamber representatives were left with red faces and drowning in red ink that could push them into bankruptcy.

It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback and point fingers at the individuals who took chances with the hope of establishing another entertaining event. A cursory review reveals a lack of spending control for the air show. And the breakdown doesn’t stop there. No one knows, for example, how many paid customers attended the two-day event, only that the crowd fell far below the expected 40,000-person turnout. However, the organizers should be applauded for daring to dream and for accepting the blame when things fell apart.

As acts of contrition or embarrassment, Randy Giddings, the chamber president and air show executive director, resigned, as did several members of the board of directors. On Thursday, the chamber has scheduled a special election to select a new board of directors. The chamber also issued a public statement which apologized “for our oversight, lack of preparation and responsiveness in dealing with the complex issues of the recent Thunder Over the Prairie 2004 Air Show. We were not prepared for the magnitude of the project and the complexities that developed as it unfolded. We are working on a plan to distribute all air show funds to our creditors on an equitable basis.”

An apology to Kootenai County commissioners also is in order.

When commissioners balked in early May before issuing the chamber a conditional use permit for the air show, Robert Stevens of the Coeur d’Alene Press, a sponsor of the event, blasted them for wasting valuable time needed to promote the show. The county shouldn’t worry, Stevens continued, because professionals are running the air show and the Hagadone Corp. wouldn’t back a project that could fail. At the time, commissioners were concerned that chamber officials were in too much of a rush. Indeed, they were.

The Hayden chamber wouldn’t be in the current mess if it’d taken at least a year to plan for the air show. With that much lead time, Giddings and others might have landed the major sponsor necessary to underwrite a $200,000 show and planned months worth of promotion. At this point, the Hayden chamber will do well if it pays off most of its debt.