There's a split purpose to Airventure (and the name even implies what that is). The show is not just the annual convention of EAA members, it is *THE* money making event for both the EAA and the EAA foundation. As a result we are stuck enduring a few commercial opportunities that are, as you note, disharmonious with the actual mission of the association. Frankly, the Blues or Tbirds are a whole lot better than the stupid Shockwave jet truck or even, in my opinion, the stupid-assed acts like the Masters of Destruction.

We'll have to see what impact the T-Birds actually cause. Frankly, in the past few years the airplane arrival has been mixed to begin with, and a substantial number of people arrive and depart before Friday anyhow. Frankly, I was at Sun-n-Fun this year when the Blue's performed and there were changes there as well. Frankly, I didn't see much of an adverse impact (and that's a field where people day-trip in and out more than camp like Oshkosh) but they did clear out almost half of the Lakeland version of Scholler for the Blue's performance.

We'll have to see. After this summer's show we can reevaluate. Either gripe how it could have been handled better or you can say "I told you so" and we'll know not to do that again.