Pretty planes grace the skies of Minden this weekend.
The Minden-Tahoe SkyFest starts Friday evening at Minden-Tahoe Airport. It’s the Carson Valley’s first air show in four years.
“Only air show in northern Nevada all year long; it's amazing,” says Heather MacDonnell, the airport manager. “We're so happy that we can do it and put on this air show for not only our community, but the surrounding northern Nevada community."
Friday night brings a pyrotechnic- and LED-infused show in the dark, followed by live music and a drone show.
“200 drones will go up in the air and perform a specialized drone show just for the air show,” MacDonnell says.
Saturday follows that up with classic cars joining the historic planes on display, and high-speed exotic cars duking it out against aircraft.
You'll find iconic planes on static display throughout the weekend, including an F-16 coming over from NAS Fallon, and a TBM 3E Avenger from World War II.
Both weekend days will be filled with acrobatic displays from a dozen different teams, from the U.S. Army Golden Knights to locally based RenegadeAV8R, owned by pilot David Costa.
“This is the only TS-11 Iskra that flies in North America,” says Costa, talking about the aircraft he’ll pilot this weekend. “It's a historic Polish jet and is a testament to Polish aviation."
Costa has called Minden home for 20 years, and the skies have been his second home since 1977. He'll demonstrate what his piece of Polish history can do this weekend.
“We're just caretakers of this stuff, so we're preserving history,” he says. “There were only 400 of these made, and they flew in active military service for 62 years."
As a long-time pilot, Costa says he's thrilled and grateful every time he straps in.
“I'm grateful because not everybody gets to do this, and so what I tell people is: work really, really hard. And in 45 years, you'll be an overnight success,” he chuckles.
Parking opens at 3 p.m., and gates open at 4 p.m. on Friday for day one of the Minden-Tahoe SkyFest. The night show begins at 6 p.m., with live music following the show at 8 p.m.
On both Saturday and Sunday, parking opens at 8 a.m., and gates open an hour later for the 11 a.m. shows. It lasts until 3 p.m. both days.
General admission tickets will run you $35.94 per adult per day. Kids 12 and up get in for $17.56, and those under 11 get in free.
You can also buy a two-day pass for Friday and Saturday at $55.41.
Parking is $22.97 and will be located on the right as you reach the airport.
You can purchase tickets and learn more about the event on the official website.
