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Honoring those who serve...
A pair of vintage World War II fighters soared over Mountain Home early Saturday as the community began a yearly tradition that paid tribute to the nation's military.
Cooler temperatures and sunny skies drew thousands of people that gathered along a nearly 1.5-mile stretch of city streets during the 53rd Annual Air Force Appreciation Day celebration.
It's a tradition that's known across the Air Force, said Col. Michael Lawrence, who recently took command of the 366th Maintenance Group at Mountain Home Air Force Base. As he prepared to ride in this year's parade with his wife and children, the colonel applauded the community's outpouring of support for those who serve in the U.S. armed forces.
"It's awesome. I've seen similar events, but I have never seen better," said Lawrence, who classified the relationship between the city and base as "absolutely phenomenal."
"There's no other base out there that has this type of support," added Col. Michael Ballek, 366th Operations Group commander.
Before he and his family moved to Mountain Home several months ago, Chief Master Sgt. Alex del Valle was given one piece of advice when it came to AFAD -- "strap in and hold on for a good time."
"I was told how the local community is very supportive of the military and knew there was a parade. But then I found out that it's a whole lot more than that. It's way more than what I had expected," said del Valle, who serves as the fighter wing's command chief.
This year's festivities kicked off Friday evening during a corn shucking event attended by local civic members and representatives from the nearby Air Force base. Among them were youngsters like William Baker and Kierstin Kaiser, who helped their parents keep pace with the competition.
In addition to preparing the corn for Saturday's barbecue lunch, the corn husking promotes a bit of friendly competition between military and civic participants with each group jockeying to finish first. In fact, it took just minutes for the dozens of participants to husk the thousands of ears of corn with volunteers piling them into a holding barrel.
With the evening's chores complete, running enthusiasts gathered on North 10th East Street to begin another tradition during this year's Air Force Appreciation Day fun run and walk. This year marked the race's 20th anniversary.
John Watkins made the annual trek from his home in Hammett to signal the start of this year's fun run event. Dressed in authentic 1880s cowboy attire as he stood at the starting line, he fired a blank from a shotgun to signal the beginning of the five-mile run. Two minutes later, he fired another round to mark the beginning of the three-mile walk.
A retired Air Force weapons mechanic and bomb loader, Watkins took over the duty of starting each race from Carl Boyer, who started the tradition 20 years ago.
"They asked me if I could do it because they thought it would be a pretty good thing," he said. "I've kept doing it ever since."
While younger runners can finish the run in roughly 30 minutes, race organizer Brad Seymour estimated that most runners would cross the finish line around the 32-minute mark.
"The course is good this year," Seymour said. "It's perfect weather. The wind on the backs of the runners will only push them forward."
This year's run continued a tradition of sorts as Gundars Kaupins of Boise crossed the finish line at 31 minutes, 22.552 seconds. It was the second time in two years that a walker had finished the appreciation day race before the much-faster runners.
About 3 1/2 minutes later, Elias Juarez became the first runner to finish the race with an official time of 34 minutes, 58.588 seconds.
Meanwhile, Laurel McMahan continued her winning ways as the top women's runner. She crossed the finish line at 36 minutes, 32.542 seconds to win her fifth consecutive AFAD title.
"It's a wonderful race," said Charlie Francisco, who crossed the finish line at 40 minutes, 56.730 seconds, to place first in the men's 60 to 69 age class.
Friday also marked the 20th time that Francisco had competed in the annual race.
"I've done 'em all," he said. "I've been here 20 years and don't remember ever missing any of these races."
"It was lovely out there with a beautiful breeze," added Veronica Ballek, who had completed her first long-distance run in several weeks. Typically, she prefers running shorter races or competing in biathlons.
Air Force Appreciation Day festivities moved into full gear early Saturday as parade enthusiasts started to line the parade route. Early risers were already staking out prime locations along American Legion Boulevard as early as 7 a.m.
These early birds included people like Bernadine Naumann, who laid claim to a section of sidewalk next to Paul's Market just after 8:30 that morning.
"I'm saving a spot for my friends," she said.
Since they moved to Mountain Home in 1986, Naumann's family has made it a point to attend each appreciation day parade.
"We've been coming ever since," she said.
"It's a bigger day than Christmas for some of us," added Janice Ausburn as she sat nearby.
Saturday was the first time in 10 years that Luanne Evans had made the trek to AFAD from her home in Twin Falls.
"My friends live in Mountain Home and invited me down," she said. "I told them that I'd love to go."
Saturday's parade ran roughly the same length as previous years despite the lack of military vehicles that would normally participate, according to parade organizer Sue Gross. Originally expecting 113 entries, the parade lineup had swelled to 135 entries by Saturday morning.
"We had quite a few last-minute entries -- very last-minute entries," Gross said.
In addition to a significant number of floats, the parade "had way more animal entries than we've had in recent years," Gross added. She estimated there were four times as many horses entered this year.
The total entries were just a few shy of the 150 registered groups that took part in AFAD's 50th anniversary parade in 2010. However, it maintains a long-standing tradition as the state's largest parade.
"Everyone thought the parade was fantastic," Gross said. "The commanders had a blast and were amazed at the quality of the parade."
However, the number of military vehicles that rolled down the streets of Mountain Home on Saturday was significant lower than in previous years. Typically, units like the 366th Civil Engineer Squadron and 726th Air Control Squadron would have nearly 20 trucks and specialized vehicles in the parade lineup.
However, the base's participation this year was curtailed due to restrictions imposed by senior Air Force officials. This was linked to mandatory budget cuts that took affect earlier this year through sequestration.
The sheer magnitude of the parade and AFAD itself caught people like Errin Yong a little off guard. Her family moved to Mountain Home from their home in Singapore back in May as part of their assignment to the local Air Force base.
"We knew the city had an appreciation day parade, but we had no idea how big this is," Yong said.
Each of this year's parade participants had the chance to earn recognition by the judges in the reviewing stand as well as members of the local community. Top honors for the judge's choice award for the best overall float went to the Buccaneers of the 428th Fighter Squadron, which trains aircrews from the Republic of Singapore air force.
Meanwhile, people also voted for separate honors presented later in the day. For the second consecutive year, the People's Choice award for best overall parade entry went to the Mountain Home Parks and Recreation cheerleaders.
As the last entry passed the judges' reviewing stand approximately two hours after the parade began, thousands of appreciation day enthusiasts packed into Carl Miller Park to check out the myriad of food and entertainment. In some places, people were packed shoulder to shoulder as they enjoyed the festivities throughout the afternoon.
A free barbecue lunch remained the biggest draw as people waited in line for several minutes as civic and military leaders served the meals.
Initial estimates put the number of people attending the barbecue at 5,000, according to Mary Beth Brown, who organized this year's picnic. Those figures are typical for each AFAD festival.
However, the demand for food was clearly evident, she added. Organizers were cleaned out of corn and most of the 1,200 pounds of beef was gone before the day wrapped up. Just a few leftovers remained once the cook shack closed for the day, Brown said.