Idaho Falls calls Extreme Blue Thunder air show a success

CORRECTION / 7-25-17 The city of Idaho Falls has corrected information on the size of crowds at the weekend air show. Officials now say 20,000 people attended on Saturday and around 15,000 on Sunday. ORIGINAL STORY: Idaho Falls officials credit 18 months of planning for a successful air show at Idaho Falls Regional Airport last weekend. Spokesperson Kerrry Hammon said approximately 15,000 people attended the event on Saturday and about 20,000 on Sunday. Another 3,000 participated in a free Veteran’s program on Friday. About 750 people attended an educational program with U.S. Navy Blue Angels pilots at the Museum of Idaho Friday morning. “I had a couple of opportunities to speak to the Blue Angels pilots who said that they loved coming to Idaho Falls because of all of the great community support and hospitality,” said Hammon. “They also said that the fact that it was so well organized relieved pressure on them so that they could focus on their task at hand and putting on a great show.” The city was also pleased with the handling of traffic. Shuttle bus times were cut down significantly from those of the 2010 air show. There were direct routes from the air show to Interstate 15 and then on to the parking lots. Lots were strategically identified to get spectators out of the airport grounds as quickly as possible.