Arlington was my home base when I owned my first airplane. The event was really a grass roots gathering of ultralight and home builders that was hosted by Jim Smith (now his wife, as Jim has passed). I don't know the ins and outs of the fallout with the EAA, but I'm not a fan of them either. Often thought of starting another organization to compete with them, but I digress. Just before the EAA got involved the event was big enough to compete with all the other airshows (never had one performer up until the EAA was involved). It did get bigger after the EAA came in, but it also got very commercialized. Used to be free for anyone who flew in (or taxied across the field). I didn't mind paying for being there as there were some wonderful airplanes on display. As I got involved with BAC and met Thom Smith (NW Regional Director), I attended a couple times with Thom and represented BAC there a couple years, I saw it started to go down hill then. There were still lots going on and lots of airplanes, but attendance from vendors started to wane. What a shame, it was a fun place to go. There were others that have gone the same way. Merced Antique Fly-in comes to mind. However, Wings over Wattsonville is doing pretty good. Admission is free there, maybe that is why. But even that is just a one day event now. Merced and Wattsonville were a week apart and I used to fly down from Arlington and attend both. It would be good to have an Oshkosh or Sun-n-Fun out West someplace or even something like Arlington used to be.
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