Not only does the Excelsior Springs Memorial Airport have a newly-paved 2,000-foot by 47-foot runway, it also has new co-managers.
Since Jerry Beebe and Don Myers took over management of the airport, they’ve been thinking outside the cockpit in trying to drum up traffic, business and activity at the site on the eastern edge of town.
City Manager David Haugland told the Excelsior Springs City Council during a work session on Friday morning, Jan. 29, that if they would like to meet Myers and Beebe, the two have been hosting a coffee at 9 a.m. every Saturday morning, welcoming pilots and other interested parties, discussing ideas and asking for feedback.
“They have a lot of ideas,” Haugland said.
The two men have been taking to aviators in their social circles, encouraging them to relocate their aircraft to the airport, where there’s hangar space available.
“They’ve also talked about doing some cooperative projects with the golf course,” Haugland added. “The idea is maybe that a pilot can fly in, toss his or her clubs right into a golf cart and drive on over to the golf course.”
The Excelsior Springs Golf Course is located just adjacent to the airport; the two facilities share a property line.
“There’s even been talk of maybe having a fly-in golf tournament,” Haugland said.
But that’s not all. Other ideas that are in the planning stages include being part of a poker run. Most often, poker runs are undertaken by motorcycle enthusiasts, who pay a fee for a charitable cause, travel to five different destinations in a single day and pick up a card at each destination. At the end of the run, participants get prizes based on what hands they’ve drawn throughout the day.
But poker runs can also involve airplanes, according to Haugland. The idea would be to replicate the poker run idea, but using small aircraft and airports as the mode of travel and destinations.
To read more, check out the print edition or e-edition of the Tuesday, Feb. 2, Standard.