The plane, the plane! No, it's not Fantasy Island. It's the Stuart Airshow!

Stuart Air Show Military Acts Coordinator Dennis Crow
with Talkin' Tourism hosts Gary Guertin & Robin Hicks-Conners.

With one of the most popular events on the Treasure Coast hours away from opening, Talkin’ Tourism was right in the thick of the excitement of the Stuart Air Show pre-opening activities. While pre-show flight briefings kept pilots from appearing on the show as hoped, our guests did a great job of sharing some of the highlights and behind the scenes information with our listeners.

General aviation is a big part of the tourism scene. David Smith, general manager of Galaxy Aviation and our host for the show, provided some great insights as to the importance of this market niche. If you are not sure about what types of concierge services a fixed based operation (FBO) provides its customers, you will have a much better idea after you listen to the show. First class all the way!

Next up on the guest panel was George Stokus, airport manager for Martin County’s Witham Field. Relatively new to the post, George’s expertise is second to none. Coordinating all of the regulatory agencies that are involved in producing an air show is no small task. If you ever wondered what an airport manager does, this episode of Talkin' Tourism helped answer that question.

Getting to the key topic of the day was Dennis Crow. While officially the military acts coordinator, Dennis has been with the air show for 10 years and was a wealth of information. Putting on a multiple-day event of this magnitude requires a tremendous amount of coordination and Talkin' Tourism's show host Gary Guertin and Talkin' Tourism co-producer Misti Guertin actually enjoyed experiencing some of that at the Friday night pre-show event—The Dirty Flight Suit Party. Aerobatics, fireworks, music (the Amber Leigh Band), food, fun, excitement and lots of spectators sums it up!

The Stuart Air Show is now in the history books for another year. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to its success. Job well done!

Here's the audio file for this week's Talkin' Tourism Stuart Airshow episode and below are few video clips from Friday night's Dirty Flight Suit Party:

Customs & Immigration coming to Stuart?

MIATC's John Hennessey and Galaxy Aviation's David Smith
with Talkin' Tourism's Robin Hicks-Connors.

Could it really happen?  

Something that the boating industry in the Stuart area has been talking about for years? A concept that is so straight-forward and simple, it just plain makes sense and the bonus it could be a boost to marine tourism in our Martin County area?

Yes, listeners, this week’s show guests, David Smith, general manager of Galaxy Aviation-Stuart, and Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast Board of Directors member John Hennessey, discussed the plans to propose to the Martin County Board of County Commissioners the development of a fee-based U.S. Customs and Immigration Office to be located at Witham Field in Stuart.  

This is not a new idea. Boaters in this area (as well as the many Stuart, Florida based private aircraft who frequent the Islands of the Bahamas) have lamented for decades over the requirement to clear back into the U.S.A. at either Ft. Pierce or Palm Beach, not Stuart.  While to those who aren't boaters or aviators who travel back and forth to the Bahamas, this might not appear as a major inconvenience, but this “missing link” could just result in increased tourism for our area.  One important aspect is the fact that Stuart lies at the eastern end of the Cross Florida Canal/Okeechobee Waterway, a main thoroughfare between Florida’s West Coast and East Coast.  With the St. Lucie Inlet being the inlet of choice for thousands of vessels each year heading for and returning from the Bahamas, the ability to clear back into the U.S. here in Stuart just makes sense.  To get all the info on this proposal, click and listen to this week’s audio file.

With Radio Man having spent a couple of days on Grand Bahama last week, you'll also find out what famous, award-winning Bahamian “personality” grew up in Ft. Pierce, and much more on this week’s show.  

See you next week from Cape Eleuthera Resort and Yacht Club with another live remote from the Islands of the Bahamas.