Cold Lake Air Show Director of Administration Rob Larson (center) stands with Director of Air Operations Major Erick O’Connor (at his right) and other dignitaries including United States Air Force F-35 Lightning II demo pilot Major Melanie “MACH” Kluesner (at his left) and 1 Canadian Air Division (1 CAD) Deputy Commander, Brigadier-General Paul Doyle (to O’Connor’s right) after accepting the 2024 Dick Schram Memorial Community Relations Award at the ICAS Convention – Supplied Photo
The Cold Lake Air Show has been awarded the 2024 Dick Schram Memorial Community Relations Award by the International Council of Air Shows (ICAS). The award was presented during ICAS’s annual convention in Las Vegas, held from December 9th to 12th. Air Show Director of Administration Rob Larson and Director of Air Operations Major Erick O’Connor were on hand to accept the honour on behalf of the event.
This prestigious award, named after former Blue Angel Commander Dick Schram, is presented each year to a military base that not only demonstrates outstanding community relations but sets new standards of excellence in incorporating its civilian neighbours into the planning, execution, and rewards of its air show. It has not been awarded to a Canadian air show since Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden received the distinction in 1997.
Larson highlighted the pivotal role of the community in the Cold Lake Air Show’s success, emphasizing the event’s deep ties to the surrounding areas:
“The integration of the community and a high focus on community relations really spun into high gear for us over the past 10 years and has only gotten better year after year. The Friday night street festival is hosted in full by the City of Cold Lake. Saturday night events including the Wing Commander’s Dinner and Performer Events are held in the City by the Air Show, and the Town of Bonnyville had a free concert planned, which was unfortunately weather-impacted. Additionally, Sunday night we went further into the broader community for our Survivor Party.”
Larson continued by highlighting the teamwork involved in planning and executing the event, noting how closely the air show committee worked with the City of Cold Lake and other local partners:
“We’ve made efforts to bring the events into the community but also the lead-in with planning —we are fully intertwined with the City, and they are invited to all of our planning meetings.”
The 2024 Cold Lake Air Show faced significant challenges, including smoky weather from neighbouring wildfires that reduced planned flying hours. However, the event’s success came through the community’s unwavering support and the committee’s determination to provide an exceptional experience for all.
“There’s a line in the award video that says something to the effect of, ‘it’s an air show winning an award without having anything in the air.’ The success of our show was in large part due to our relationship with the greater community and their advocacy to fellow spectators on just how hard we were working to give them the best event possible despite the challenging conditions,” Larson explained.
Despite these hurdles, the air show received overwhelmingly positive feedback:
“In an era where social media is generally not kind to change, we were met with a 99%+ positivity rating for an event that ended up with roughly 4 hours of flying when 8+ were in the plans, including 0 acts operating as planned on Saturday.”
The Dick Schram Memorial Community Relations Award further solidifies the Cold Lake Air Show’s reputation as a world-class event admired across the air show and military demonstration community. Larson shared that military performers and teams consistently look forward to returning to Cold Lake, noting how the show’s reputation has grown over the years:
“Throughout this past week, we were continually reminded by performers, largely military, just how much they look forward to our show every two years. Our reputation within ICAS, the demo team’s community and beyond has continued to grow and solidify, and 2024 was the year that put our biggest challenge in front of us. And we not only met the challenge—we exceeded all expectations.”
The Cold Lake Air Show is scheduled to take flight once again in the summer of 2026.
