EAA AirVenture pumps $170 million into local economy

OSHKOSH, Wis. (WFRV) – Aviation enthusiasts aren’t the only ones excited about EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this week.

It’s a huge week for local businesses as well. For Marty Schibbelhut, the owner of Oshvegas Palms Resort just across the highway from the EAA grounds, the roar of all those aircraft is music to his ears.

“Every single summer it’s one of the events that I look forward to because it’s such a great crowd,” he said. “I like to see the same faces come back year after year. It’s like a family reunion and you hate to see it when Sunday rolls around and people start to leave.”

Oshvegas Palms Resort is a campground and RV park and Schibbelhut said they’re completely filled up this week. He said all the way back in March they had already sold out for this week.

“EAA week is probably easily double the number of rigs that we usually have here,” he said.

Oshvegas Palms Resort isn’t the only local business getting a boost from the EAA crowd. According to the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce and an EAA official who spoke with Local 5 News, the event pumps in $170 million into the Fox Valley economy each year. This includes Brown, Calumet, Winnebago, Outagamie, and Fond du Lac counties.

“It is something that becomes an economic engine as well as something for enjoyment of aviation,” said EAA communications director Dick Knapinski. “A lot of big events we have here Packers games, Summerfest it’s us Wisconsinites exchanging money with one another, this is an influx of outside money from across the nation and across the world that comes into the Fox Valley and Wisconsin.”

To put that $170 million number into perspective, officials estimate that when the NFL draft comes to Titletown next spring it’ll pump in $94 million into Wisconsin’s economy.

“I would say to those businesses that may be involved in something like the NFL draft is to make sure that you make yourself visible, make sure visitors know about you,” said Knapinski. “Visitors are here for a short time, so how do you stand out a little bit to make yourself special.”

EAA officials said about 677,000 people attended E-A-A AirVenture last year which was a new attendance record for the event.

“It gives Oshkosh the kind of recognition that you can’t buy, if you go to any pilot in the world and say the word Oshkosh they know exactly what you’re talking about,” said Knapinski.

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