Only weekend Thunderbirds could come to La Crosse was during WIAA state track

Despite four new hotels downtown, airshow couldn’t secure enough rooms

For the past two years, road construction forced the cancellation of La Crosse’s Deke Slayton Airfest.

Now, construction is done but the show won’t go on because there are apparently not enough hotel rooms to accommodate the Thunderbirds, the weekend they’re available.

“The weekend that they had available, we were not able to secure all the resources that we needed, as far as hotel rooms and such within the local area to be able to accommodate the jet team, so we were not able to fill a slot with them this year,” Airfest co-president Tess Larsen said.

That weekend? The same as the WIAA state track and field tournament. 

Airfest board member Bruce Mathew explains that the Thunderbirds need at least 75 hotel rooms for their support staff when it performs. And, the only weekend it could get to La Crosse in 2017 was the first weekend of June, when state track takes over the city bringing thousands of visitors to the area.

The last Airfest, in 2014, featured the Blue Angels. 

Since then, four new hotels went up in downtown La Crosse alone – the Charmant, the Hampton Inn, the Home2 Suites and the Fairfield Inn and Suites.

Last year, the Thunderbirds were booked but the show was called off because of I-90 construction and the rebuilding of the French Island exit. That was the same reasoning in 2015.

“There’s been only one way on and off the island,” Larsen said of the last two summers. “With only one entry and exit, we felt it was a safety concern and safety is our No. 1 priority.”

Now, Larsen says the show is shooting for 2018, but the committee won’t know until December.