Enjoy pancakes, planes, and children’s activities during this annual event.
After two years of cancellations, the decades-old annual pancake Fly-in at Mid-Way Regional Airport is back.
Set for 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. on June 4, 2022 at 131 Airport Drive in Midlothian, Texas, the airport-oriented event will give visitors the chance to experience what the regional airport offers while touring aircraft and enjoying breakfast.
Airport Operations Assistant Tammy Bowen says the event has been popular in the past and that she looks forward to its return after concerns over COVID-19 lead organizers to cancel the event for the past two years of its more than 20-year run.
“It’s an annual event we have each year — the first Saturday in June. We consider a very unique event that’s become more and more popular each year. It gives people opportunity to get up close and personal with airplanes and it gives the residents of our community a chance to see what the airport’s all about,” Tammy says.
Among one of the main attractions, the pancake breakfast is available for $6.00 per adult and $3.00 for a child eight years-old or younger. Parking and admission to the event are free, but rides and other attractions require various fees.
“The catering will be provided by and benefiting Boy Scout Troop 524. As far as activities, we’ll have some children’s activities — that includes a train and face painting and a balloon twister. Also, we’ll have helicopter rides; we’ll have airplane rides. The Commemorative Air Force will be here with about seven airplanes. I think four of them are going to be giving rides, for a fee of course, and I think maybe about three of them are going to be static. They have a DC-3. Also they’re bringing what they call Ike’s Bird. It’s President Eisenhower’s 1955 twin-engine that was used for the Eisenhower administration in the White House to carry the President and Vice President and First Family on short distance trips, so they’ll be giving rides for a fee in that aircraft as well.
“In addition to rides like that, the Midlothian Classic Car Club will be displaying some of their cars and the Goldwing Road Riders and American Legion Riders will be here displaying their motorcycles.”
Tammy says that the event has drawn more than 1,000 visitors and that she expects this year’s attendance to be even higher.
“We want to give people opportunity to enjoy the airport and see what the airport is all about,” she says. “And a lot of people still don’t even know we’re here. So, that’s really what our events always been about.”
Mid-Way Regional Airport is a joint operation between the City of Midlothian and the City of Waxahachie, developed to boost the economic infrastructure in northwest Ellis County.
“We are a 6,500-foot runway; we can handle most all major corporate aircraft. We’ve had Gulfstreams; we’ve had Globals; we’ve had Falcons. So, we do take care of the large corporate aircraft that are in the Fortune 500 industry,” says Mid-Way Regional Airport Manager Darrell Phillips. “It is a big asset to this area. And it’s a big connection to the U.S. — and international — for companies and businesses to use this airport.”