Woodlands County could be making a bid by the end of the month to host the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association’s (COPA) National Fly-in Even at the Whitecourt airport in the summer of 2023.
County councillors previously gave their approval in December for the municipality to submit a proposal to host the national fly-in, which would draw hundreds of attendees and approximately 150 to 200 planes from across Canada.
During the airport advisory committee meeting on March 29, director of infrastructure Andre Bachand said county administration has had three meetings with the Town of Whitecourt, the Chamber of Commerce and the local flying club about putting together a proposal to host the event.
He said they have been gathering together information that they want to include in the proposal and plan to have a meeting this week to wrap up all the information-gathering, at which point they will put together the first draft.
Noting that the deadline to submit a proposal to host the fly-in event falls on May 1, Bachand said they plan to have a second draft ready for review the week before the deadline.
Bachand noted they have also had discussions with the Innisfail group that hosted the 2019 COPA national fly-in, as well as discussions with COPA itself.
“We don’t know who else is putting a proposal together, but we feel pretty confident that our proposal is going to hit all the marks that the national association is looking for,” he said.
Bachand indicated that hosting this event would likely necessitate a budget of around $30,000, which is the budget that the Innisfail group had.
They came close to breaking event, but to be on the safe side, Bachand said they would be estimating a shortfall of around $5,000 to $10,000.
Coun. Alan Deane asked where the meeting and dining facilities needed for the event would be set up at the airport.
Bachand indicated that as part of their proposal, they need four locations that can seat 200 people each. In addition to county facilities they can utilize, they have also been in talks to briefly use two privately-owned hangars for the event and could also rent a large tent if need be.
He also noted they are in the process of arranging a fly-out to Jasper National Park for attendees.
