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Sunday, May 30, 2021

Palm Springs Air Museum's Memorial Day Flower Drop draws hundreds to honor fallen - Desert Sun

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The Palm Springs Air Museum held the first day of its Memorial Day Weekend Air Fair and Flower Drop on Sunday — the museum's first major event since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year.

The Air Fair has been staged in various forms on Memorial Day since the museum was founded in 1996. The flower drop, which involves emptying bags of red and white carnations from a helicopter, has been held for about 15 years, according to the museum's vice chairman, Fred Bell.

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The event's purpose, according to Bell, "is to give a voice to those people who have fallen in service of our country so they won’t be forgotten."

The white carnations are intended to honor veterans who died in World War I, World War II, and the Korea and Vietnam wars, according to the museum, while the red carnations honor those who died in more recent conflicts such as Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan.

This year, the flower drop is being split over two days for the first time. The museum decided to "spread the event out" over Sunday and Monday to avoid overly dense crowds, according to Bell.

"We’re still in that kind of grey area as we’re coming out of COVID and we just felt that, regardless of the amount of difficulty, it was better for us to have a two-day event that allowed people to spread out more on the property," Bell said.

"We have a fairly large property, so if you really want to be socially distant you can do that; there’s no issue," he added. "We wanted people to have that option."

Roughly 500 people attended the event on Sunday, according to Bell. The main event kicked off at 1 p.m. with a ceremony honoring veterans who died in conflicts. A fleet of vintage aircraft from the museum took off shortly afterward, accompanied by a museum helicopter carrying flowers for the drop.

In addition to the air show, the event included live music from the Heatwave Show Band — a Boys and Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley-sponsored youth band. Food trucks and stands from Carl’s Jr., Best Cookies Palm Springs and Nick’s Pizza, among others, were open at the museum throughout the day.

Hervey McGlashan, an 86-year-old Korean War veteran from the Coachella Valley, said he was happy to be able to get out to a live event after a year of pandemic lockdowns.

It was a rare opportunity to see real vintage aircraft in action, he added.

“If you’re interested at all in this kind of stuff, you better attend some of these things," said McGlashan. "Because this is the only place you’re gonna see them. They're becoming so rare."

Coleen Mattison, a Northern California resident who was attending the Memorial Day Air Fair for the first time, said the event was an opportunity to do something both entertaining and meaningful for the holiday.

“This has been wonderful, we’ve had the best time,” Mattison said. “All these kids that come out, it really gets people thinking about things.”

On Monday, the museum will unveil new statues honoring the Tuskegee Airmen, and will hold the flower drop again at 1 p.m.  Advance tickets can be purchased online until 7 a.m. on Monday, according to Bell, after which point entry will become subject to availability.

James B. Cutchin covers business in the Coachella Valley. Reach him at james.cutchin@desertsun.com.

Read or Share this story: https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2021/05/30/palm-springs-air-museum-holds-memorial-day-flower-drop-and-air-fair/5276220001/

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May 31, 2021 at 07:52AM
https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2021/05/30/palm-springs-air-museum-holds-memorial-day-flower-drop-and-air-fair/5276220001/

Palm Springs Air Museum's Memorial Day Flower Drop draws hundreds to honor fallen - Desert Sun

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