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Baxter County Airport will host the first Crosswind Classic on Saturday, Aug. 29, an all-day event built around an aviation poker run, a car show and rows of parked airplanes.
Organizers have the event running from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the airport, which sits about five miles northwest of Mountain Home near Midway. It is billed as a family event as much as an aviation one.
The aviation static display features a lineup of general aviation aircraft, experimental aircraft and historic warbirds. The airport grounds will also hold a car show, live music, a kids zone and food from a variety of food trucks.
Rylan Wynn, who handles fueling and towing at the field, said the day is built to be kid-friendly. Wynn spent six years in the Air Force working on F-16 fighter jets.
EAA Twin Lakes Chapter 775 will open the morning with a coffee and doughnuts social at 8 a.m. at the Bayird Aviation FBO. That comes ahead of the safety briefing for pilots flying the poker run.
Admission and parking are free. Pilots flying the poker run must pre-register and pay $30, which covers one food truck meal token. Anyone entering an aircraft in the static display must also pre-register, at a cost of $25.
The event comes during a busy stretch for the airport. More than $2.5 million has been invested in the field over roughly the past three years, much of it going toward new hangars built to pull aviation businesses to the county.
Those businesses have the airport looking at its runway next. The airport is planning an expansion that would make it more marketable for commuter service.
The airport is owned by the county and run by the Baxter County Airport Authority. Federal Aviation Administration figures list 74 aircraft based at the field and roughly 11,500 takeoffs and landings there in 2024.
Questions, registration and other information go through the event’s directors: Airport Manager Taylor Carmichael at (870) 481-5418, Wynn at (417) 989-1021 and EAA Chapter 775 President Bill Holland at (405) 626-1386. They can also be reached at [email protected].
