Local leaders gathered Sept. 17 at the Mt. Sterling-Montgomery County Regional Airport to announce the 2027 Beech Bash in the Bluegrass will be coming to the airport next spring.
Present for the announcement were Mt. Sterling Mayor Al Botts, Montgomery County Judge-Executive Chris Haddix, Danny Hill from Kentucky Airmotive, Catesby Woodford, chair of the airport board, and Tourism Director Tracy Pearce.
The local EAA chapter provided a meal to culminate a Baby Bash, a smaller-scale event that was held the same day.
The Baby Bash attracted more than 40 planes. Participants came from several states and took a tour of the Red River Gorge for the weekend for the Baby Bash.
This is the second year the airport has hosted the Baby Bash.
Last week’s announcement was that the Beech Bash in the Bluegrass, also known as the Big Bash, will be coming to the airport the last weekend in April.
It will coincide with the Nancy Green Festival that weekend.
Woodford said the Big Bash is expected to draw more than 200 planes from all across the country and will feature daytime and nightime air shows complete with aerobatics maneuvers by special airplanes.
There will be also be excursions that weekend, seminars for pilots and other activities.
The public is invited to participate in all the festivities, Woodford said.
The event was held in Madisonville for five years, Woodford said, but the local community made a big effort to lure it here.
Some of the advantages Mt. Sterling has, he said, are adequate parking at the airport, plenty of hangar space and a number of local attractions to see, among other things.
Woodford said the local community has gone all out to bring the event to Mt. Sterling and highlight what it has to offer.
“Mt. Sterling/Montgomery County Tourism is very excited that Mt. Sterling was selected to be the location of the 2027 Beech Bash in the Bluegrass,” Tourism Director Tracy Pearce said. “We enjoyed getting to meet many of those that will be participating in April at the Baby Beech Bash Thursday at the airport. This is a fun group of aircraft enthusiasts and we are looking forward to hosting them.”
“The 2026 Beech Bash held in Madisonville had 164 aircraft fly in and 473 attendees from all over the country, even a few other countries,” she added. “Based on similar projections of attendance for 2027, although the organizers are expecting growth, the economic impact is estimated to be $736,128 for the April 2027 event in Mt. Sterling. That estimate includes $7,191 in local tax, $20,804 in state tax and $460,080 in direct spending. This will have a huge impact on local restaurants, food trucks and catering businesses, local lodging, local retail sales, fuel sales and vehicle rentals.”
Local officials are welcoming the event with open arms.
“Having so many new visitors from all over the country is a dream come true as the tourism director and I am looking forward to meeting them and showing them our wonderful community,” Pearce said. “Who knows, many may fall in love with our community and decide to bring a business here, buy a property here and become a frequent visitor.”
Haddix is among those to welcome the event.
“It is exciting to see the airport board enter into this partnership with the folks at Beech Bash,” Haddix said.”This will be a multiple day event where hundreds of people will fly into our community and see all the things we have to offer. I am proud of our airport board for accepting the great amount of work that this is going to take by everyone involved to make it a success.
“This will be a fun-filled event for everyone who chooses to attend,” he added. “It will be great to see all the planes fly into one of Montgomery County’s gems and enjoy the festivities. This event will also have a positive economic impact for our community because the pilots and their families will eat in our restaurants, shop in our stores and stay in our hotels. We welcome Beech Bash 2027 to Mt. Sterling-Montgomery County Airport.”
Botts said, “Mt. Sterling-Montgomery County is excited to have been selected as the 2027 host of ‘Beech Bash in the Bluegrass!’ I’m thrilled that the event organizers have the trust and confidence in our community for this event. We have a beautiful and modern airport, and it makes me proud to know that others appreciate the space that we have, and they see the benefit of bringing their event here. This event will have a very positive economic impact on our community, and it will be a nice to showcase all of the wonderful things that we have to offer here. We’ve been looking to include another fun event on our calendar, and this will fit nicely in the schedule for the spring.”
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