Foundation appreciates Fly-In support

Considering the weather, New Hampton Airport Foundation member Jason Lahmann will call last weekend’s annual “Fly-In Breakfast” a win.On the plus side, almost 200 area residents took part in the breakfast, Foundation members sold quite a few fundraising “bricks” and the organization raised more than $1,100.On the down side, low cloud cover and gusty winds meant that few planes — two to be exact — “flew in” for the actual event.Still, organizers appreciated the support community members showed on a morning that was relatively raw as temperatures hovered in the upper 50s and low 60s.“We got great community support,” Lahmann said, “but Mother Nature didn’t do us any favors. Then again, she hasn’t done a lot of favors for anyone this summer. We were hoping for 25 or so planes, but it wasn’t a great day to be flying.”The foundation, though, made a dent in the shortfall that it is facing after finding out in August the New Hampton Municipal Airport had received a grant for more than $352,000 from the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Aviation Division.That money will be used to rehabilitate a runway that has been virtually “untouched” in the last 50 years.The foundation has raised close to $115,000 of its $120,000 goal to provide “matching funds” to the project.The Fly-In Breakfasts, which started in 2014, have provided the foundation with much-needed visibility in the community, and Lahmann again thanked Sparboe, Klunder’s, Fareway and Kwik Star for supporting the event.“We’ve had great community support almost from the start,” Lahmann said, “and to have almost 200 people come out on a morning like last Saturday, I think, says a lot about how people feel about our airport.”