Jet-powered

This past weekend in Marion County, you could have met people from all over the United States as well as Canada, China, England, France and South Korea.

Stephen Lega

More than 200 model jet planes flew during Jets Over Kentucky at the Lebanon-Springfield Airport this past week.

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While we realize this could happen on any given day if you decided to take a tour of the Maker’s Mark Distillery, in this case we are talking about an event at the Lebanon-Springfield Airport.

Jets Over Kentucky 2010 attracted approximately 130 radio-controlled model jet pilots with 214 planes. Each year, this event continues to draw more and more people to central Kentucky for days at a time.

What started as a three-day event just a few years ago has grown into a week-long event for RC jet enthusiasts. Each year we’ve heard pilots rave about the facility, the event and the community.

Believe it or not, some people are making Lebanon a regular part of their vacation plans.

There are many people who deserve credit for this.

First and foremost, the people of Marion and Washington counties have made the RC pilots feel welcomed. According to event-organizer Lewis “The General” Patton, the pilots appreciate the support they have received from the community. He added that the communities’ appreciation for the event has helped its steady growth over the years.

Second, Patton and the other pilots have promoted the event and the community. Several first-time pilots said they have learned about Jets Over Kentucky through their contacts with other pilots. While the event is promoted within the RC jet community, nothing means more than having participants promote the event themselves.

Third, the Lebanon Tourist and Convention Commission deserves credit for getting the event to our community. Jets Over Kentucky has been, without question, one of the more successful events tourism has worked with over the years.

Few events have been able to boast the steady growth the way Jets Over Kentucky has.

And we’re encouraged to hear from Patton that he thinks the event will continue to grow in 2011.

Radio-controlled airplanes may or may not be of interest to you, personally, but we hope everyone recognizes that those scale-model planes have made a real impact on our community.