“We are the birthplace of aviation; Wright State us named in the honor of the Wright Brothers; Huffman Prairie is the heart of Fairborn,” said Greg Scharer, executive director of alumni relations at Wright State. “The Festival of Flight is a celebration of something our community takes pride in and will help make even more members of the public aware of the importance of aviation to our community.”
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The festival will feature aviation-related educational activities, flight-themed food and drinks, entertainment, including live bands, a dedicated children’s activity area and a haunted trail.
News Center 7’s Gabrielle Enright will represent Channel 7 from 3 p.m. until approximately 6:30.
Festival of Flight also includes a celebration of Wright Brothers Day, which marks the anniversary of Wilbur Wright’s 39-minute flight on Huffman Prairie on October 5, 1905.
“When Uncles Orv and Will first ‘imagined’ the role their flying machines would play in the world, they predicted their aeroplanes would be used for sport and pleasure...and that ‘flight’ would link neighbors and strangers,” Amanda Wright Lane, great grandniece of Wilbur and Orville Wright said. “Over 100 years later, the organizers of Wright State’s inaugural Festival of Flight are designing an event that will do just that: join all our members of our community together through sport and entertainment, while celebrating a world-transforming technology, born only a few miles away!”
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The City of Fairborn, Wright State University and the Wright State Alumni Association are sponsoring the event. They have also partnered with Dayton Regional STEM School, the Miami Valley Restaurant Association, the National Aviation Heritage Alliance, the National Aviation Hall of Fame and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
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