To the wonderful tenants of KHYI:
Thank you for allowing our little group of dreamers to intrude on your fantastic facility. We hope that the long-term benefits of having an event like Go Wheels Up! Texas at the San Marcos Regional Airport outweigh the necessary inconveniences.
Please know that we have sought out and received a large amount of feedback from the airport community and will be making big changes to lessen those inconveniences, especially regarding the handling of aircraft on the ground, so that our impact on the day-to-day operations is as small as possible.
If you weren't in attendance, Go Wheels Up! Texas 2019 was an air show, concert series, auto show and food festival hosted by Texas country music icon, Cory Morrow. The music was headlined by Bret Michaels and the air show was anchored by Kirby Chambliss and the Red Bull Air Force. The auto show featured numerous cars on display ranging from a 1920s-era fire engine to a $450,000 2019 Ford GT. Food selections ranged from hamburgers to seafood to hand-squeezed lemonade.
It goes without saying to those of you reading this who did attend, we didn't get anywhere near our attendance goals. We had just over 5232 tickets sold or given away. (That number includes 1000+ we gave out to airport tenants. We hope you made use of them and enjoyed your time at Go Wheels Up!) Of the tickets purchased for which we have data, we had visitors from as far away as Paris, France. From within the United States, we had spectators from as far away as Philadelphia, PA and San Francisco, CA. In total we had 125 zip codes represented with the most attendees hailing from the San Antonio, Austin and Houston areas. While it was the case, as we were expecting, the vast majority of our attendees came from within a 50-mile radius, we were very surprised to see that over 25% of our spectators drove from significantly further distances.
The majority of the feedback we've received has been unapologetically positive with most stating that they had a fantastic time with their families and hoping the event comes back in 2020. We are here to say that we are more motivated than ever to present the City of San Marcos with a landmark event that will have a tremendous economic impact not just on the airport, but the City and region at large.
The most common complaint was simply that information about the event was difficult to find. We will be launching a much more comprehensive promotional and informational campaign for the 2020 event in the weeks and months ahead. In the meantime, please don't hesitate to let us know your thoughts.
We would like to give a heartfelt thank you to our key corporate sponsors who made this entire endeavor possible:
The City of San Marcos, Texas First Caterpillar Rentals, McCoy's Building Supply, Chuck Nash Auto Group, and Redbird Skyport.
We would also like to thank our at-large sponsors for all of their support and willingness to give a first-year event a chance:
Affordable Golf Carts, Central Texas Medical Center, Hennessey Performance, Holiday Inn Convention Center San Marcos, Ewald Kubota. Just Smash 'EM Lemonade, Army National Guard, Leaffilter, Lucky Sky Graphics, Odessa Pumps, Premier Cuts, Trace / Highpointe, W.B. Arthur Restoration, Greater San Marcos Partnership, Subway, San Marcos Chamber of Commerce, Garver Engineering, Matt Patterson Insurance, Rambler Water, Cavendars, Express Paintless, STS VIP Helicopter, Grade 4 Mini Trucks, AeroShine and ToddCoe Aviation.
We haven't set a date for 2020. We are looking at many factors including weather patterns, competing events, Texas State's class schedule among others. We will release that information as soon as it's available. In the meantime, once again, thank you for allowing us to shine a light on the San Marcos Regional Airport as not just an air show/concert venue, but also as a hub for commerce. Until next year we wish you nothing but blue skies every time you Go Wheels Up!
Sincerely,