‘It’s just a great event;’ Longtime volunteers looking forward to 2023 Dayton Air Show

DAYTON — More than 2,000 volunteers will be working the CenterPoint Energy Dayton Air Show this weekend.

>>PHOTOS: ‘It’s just a great event;’ Longtime volunteers looking forward to 2023 Dayton Air Show

News Center 7′s Taylor Robertson spoke with two of the longtime volunteers who described the air show as one of the best in the country.

Martin Baldwin and Pam Gayheart grew up coming out to the air show to watch the planes, and now they are part of what keeps it running smoothly.

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Baldwin has held several volunteer titles at the air show for over 25 years.

“I was an assistant for probably a number of years and before that, I was one of the volunteers,” Baldwin said.

The air show promoter asked him to gather some of his friends to volunteer and he’s come back every year since.

“I mean it’s just a great event,” Baldwin said.

Now he’s in charge of the chalets that corporations can rent.

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“They are air-conditioned tents with their own restrooms and they have a seating area outside in front on the flight line,” Baldwin said.

Gayheart volunteers with carts and radios. She is in charge of making sure people make it to those chalets among many other tasks.

“We make sure that all of the vendors and all of the people who are coming to the air show to help make the air show work are assigned carts and radios. Radios for different communication- if there is an emergency or any type of communication that needs to happen between the volunteers and the staff that are working the weekend,” Gayheart said.

Gayheart has been helping with the air show for more than 10 years now. She grew up coming to the air show watching the Thunderbirds with her family. Now she is here for a different reason.

“It’s just a fun thing to volunteer for and I really enjoy working with the volunteers and the people that I know here,” Gayheart said.

Volunteer spots for this year are full. To find out how to sign up to volunteer next year you can click here.

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