The planes at the 57th Iroquois Flying Club Fly-in breakfast are always popular, but a helicopter seems to reach an even higher level of interest. Tinkess Photo

IROQUOIS – With events like the 57th Iroquois Flying Club Fly-in breakfast, you can do everything possible to ensure success, but there is one thing you cannot control is the weather. There was heavy rain overnight, but by 7:40 there were spots of blue in the sky and both people and planes were starting to arrive.

Nathalie Page, the event organizer was optimistic that things would continue to improve throughout the morning. In the three years she has been handling the role of “boss lady,” she has learned that if you keep moving forward, things usually turn out well.

“We are expecting a good crowd,” said Page. So far, we have people from Montreal and even Poland. We are expecting between 650 and 800 people, that is what we planned for. We would, of course, be happy to welcome a few more.”

Proceeds from the breakfast will go to the Flying Club. “They’re completely autonomous, so when they need to cut trees or fix the hangers, or things like that, this money will go to that.”

To run an event like the fly-in breakfast, you need lots of help because there are a lot of individual tasks to be completed. Fortunately, they had lots of volunteers. “We have the Scouts, Ross Video, they are always coming in numbers, The lawn bowling club, Some Lions Club members, they all play a role in making it a success,” said Page.

It didn’t matter if you were there for the planes and saw breakfast as an extra or were there for the breakfast with the planes as a nice bonus. In either case you would have walked away happy. By mid-morning there were approximately 12 planes (and one helicopter) on the ground. And there weren’t a lot of empty seats at the tables which had been set up. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, beans, ham, a roll, coffee or tea and orange juice.

If that wasn’t enough, several local groups were on hand providing information on what they have to offer. There was the Historical Society of South Dundas, Friends of Crysler Farm Battlefield, Golden Gears Car Club, Iroquois Marine Search and Rescue, and Float with us for Autism.

John Ross, the founder of Ross Video, and who was instrumental in the creation of the Iroquois airport (and so much more) was on hand and obviously pleased to see this event continue to draw large crowds each year. At 90, Ross is in good health and continues to pilot his plane and play a role in the continued growth of the “Best Little Town by a Dam Site.”

“The first one was as a centennial project in 1967,” said Ross in discussing the origins of the fly-in breakfast. “That’s when the grass runway was built. It was about two years later that the original Airport Building was built, and that lasted until about four years ago, and that was replaced with this building I designed.”

The event was scheduled to run till approximately 11:00 a.m. and at 8:30 a.m. there was discussion whether they needed to pick up extra breakfast supplies because the people kept coming. That’s the thing with success: the more successful you are, the higher the bar you set for next year. That shouldn’t be a problem, however as the Iroquois Flying Club Fly-in breakfast seems to give people something they want and make them come back again.