Festival of Flight Takes Off!

The City of East Wenatchee celebrated the Festival of Flight at Pangborn Memorial Airport, celebrating Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon’s first non-stop, trans-Pacific flight on the famous “Miss Veedol.”

This event celebrates the flight Pangborn and Herndon took on Oct. 3, 1931,  leaving the Sabishiro Beach in Misawa, Japan and, unfortunately, crashing into East Wenatchee.

"Well, I'm still surprised that not everyone knows that that story exists. It wasn't made into a famous movie or anything, but it is a historical event, and we're lucky enough to have that historical event happen here in East Wenatchee," East Wenatchee Mayor Jerrilea Crawford said. "Being able to show the Miss Veedol airplane and talk about the flight and the significance of it for aviation."

On August 6, families had the opportunity to check out classic airplanes and modern-day rescue helicopters.

The East Wenatchee Cub Scouts held a mini color guard ceremony, opening the festival with the National Anthem.  

Around 9:30 a.m., Link Transit unveiled their new vinyl bus wraps that feature the Miss Veedol flight, created by local Pullman artist David C. Hoyt. Some of the eight bus wrap designs were made by Mary Big Bull-Lewis and Rob Lewis with R Digital Design.

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The other designs feature the local fruit industry, recreational activities, and the natural history of the Wenatchee area.

“Through that, brainstorming [we] basically [came] up with honoring the free industry, the geology and makeup of the area, recreation and also place bound like one of the other designs has some things from up on the plateau and Leavenworth and a few other areas,” Hoyt said. “We're just trying to represent the whole link service area and not just Wenatchee or East Wenatchee.”

The festival also featured Japanese-inspired activities, along with a karate demonstration from the Wenatchee School of Karate at 10:30 a.m.

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Activities included a cardboard cutout of Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon, a mochi-making stand, making construction paper bento boxes, writing your name in Japanese, and a photoshoot area.

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This event had a slew of food vendors which featured Dooley Dogs Hot Dogs, Mama Tina’s Woodfire Pizza, Blue Skies Food Shack, shaved ice, and a dumpling stand.