By MAAC Admin
I’ll start by welcoming 45 new members to the club, who joined us at the annual MAAC Grassroots Fly-In, September 4-7, 2025, which is 45-plus years in the making. When one member asked about the fly-in name, I pointed in the direction of grass-covered X-shaped taxiways next to the grass-covered Runway 27 at Brodhead Airport, Wisconsin (C37). A conversation then started about how no two people will have the same experience at this fly-in since there is just so much to see. Here’s one ‘slice’ of many.
Thursday morning, a few exceptional members helped me set up the registration table for greeting members and guests all weekend. Special thanks to Linda Lovley, Lisa Dewitt, Marti Whitmore, Cinimin Alsworth, LuVerne Verhoeven and Jen Hanson! Volunteering at the table is a great way to put names to faces, with stories about what they flew in, or drove, and from where. No tally yet for how many states were represented, but the club currently hosts members from 35 states, Britain, Italy and Switzerland. Big thanks to Luke Lachendro et al for counting 186 aircraft in attendance and 125 different types.
Come early, stay late. Early Thursday arrivals this year noticed that Linda Lovley was several days ahead. She arrived on Monday in her green and white Citabria that matches her jacket! She, alongside other ‘Originals’ with Marginal Aviation, helped establish MAAC in the 1980s and continue to foster the club’s success today.
No one takes a ‘quick walk-around’ the field, especially while side-stepping the handiwork of ‘Bucky Badger’ – watch your step! People who stop by for just an afternoon often try to find a hotel later in the day (usually all booked), or available hangar or tent space, and sleeping bag. There is nothing fast about this Golden Era club, where conversations about projects and mechanics are many, with generous pilots who out-do one another with low pass fly-bys and thrilled passengers. For context, weekend fly-in fuel sales topped 1,132 Gallons (100LL / Mogas)!
Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) Gail LaPook started to leave Thursday afternoon only to be whisked up at sunset by Club President Justin Niemyjski, in his Beechcraft Staggerwing with new friends who knew many of her long-time aviation friends. I too enjoyed a couple sunset flights with friends, and friends around a welcoming bonfire.
The cumulative knowledge and experience at Brodhead is a unique, unmatched resource alongside other unique, unmatched resources in other locations that collectively keep legacy skills intact and antiques flying. Superb experts like Kent McMakin take on projects like the only known Consolidated PT-3 in existence, rolled out in one piece for the first time last weekend, since restoration began. According to the current owner, Jim Hammond, donated this airplane to the San Diego Air & Space Museum in 1969, but it was substantially damaged in the museum’s 1975 fire. No project is too big for Kent!
Add a bunch of antique autos and an ever-evolving, hands-on, drivable, flyable inventory at the co-located Kelch Aviation Museum that not only brings history to life, but offers a substantial collection of aviation and library resources, then also, a Fly-In Market for hard-to-find parts. It’s also a great venue to book your next event, as did our own Cub / Stearman pilot / heart attack survivor Jeff Nelson, and his wife Meryl who is a registered nurse, who provided a lunch presentation to boost health-relative-to-aviation medical clearances and overall quality of life. It matters!
Here’s a fun clip from locals @ Green County TV: https://greencounty.tv/gctv-news-september-11-2025-maac-grassroots-fly-in
…and another hour-long video from Ron Rogers: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GEzB4jHXH8
Generations of members and guests come from afar. For years, Brodhead has been a place for kids to catch rides that become lessons, the kind of useful airtime that ‘sticks’ in one’s memory. Many of those kids are now parents and grandparents giving the lessons. And where there are old airplanes, there are usually old autos. Ever drive a classic between rows of antique aeroplanes, tents and friendly campers who master the RV life, flags and festive lights? At Brodhead, you’ll find a Ford Phaeton and Model Ts, and a Studebaker among others that attract visits from clubs like F.A.R.T.s (Friends of Ancient Road Transportation). This year, we caught a ride in Chris Price’s recently acquired 1960 Mercedes 220S – the one with Lloyd Stearman’s cigarette butts still in the ashtray!
HUGE thanks to all of the volunteers who made the 2025 Grassroots Fly-In a success! This includes airport management – Hawk Aire, and EAA Chapter 431, our ever-friendly hosts who provide a superb airport, space, meals and amenities.
Usually, the first weekend in September after Labor Day, we look forward to next year’s Grassroots Fly-In, Sep 10-13th, 2026.
We encourage members to volunteer across several areas. This year, we had more volunteers to assist with fuel sales than time slots – a good problem to have! Please be in touch closer to the time if you’re available to assist with table registration, parking and camping, kitchen support, fuel sales, etc.: info@maacgrassroots.net. Thank you!
