Fans of aviation should get a look in the next few weeks at a first-draft lineup of performers for the inaugural Visit Atlantic City Soar and Shore Festival this summer.
Air shows are an annual tradition in Atlantic City, but the name is changed for 2025, as is the producer. The selection of Herb Gillen Airshows of Columbus, Ohio was announced March 19, and the air show is scheduled for July 15-16.
Company President Herb Gillen and his team toured the city and facilities in early April.
More: What happened? Atlantic City Airshow 2024 cancelled
“Everything is going smoothly, and it’s set up,” Gillen said last week. “It looks like it’s going to be a great show. It’s a beautiful venue.”
Gillen said a lineup announcement should be out in May.
“It’s a pretty quick turnaround for something that really just got confirmed that we were doing it less than a couple months ago,” Gillen said. “It’ll be a little different than in the past. We’re not selling any kind of premium seating.
“It’s come down, grab your space, and enjoy the show.”
Atlantic City is to be the site of an air show July 15-16, 2025.
Gillen said the air show, which is free, should be easily watched from anywhere on the beach or the boardwalk.
“The beach is closer, obviously, and you’ll get to see probably a little better down there,” Gillen said. “But you should be able to see everything from the boardwalk, except for … when they’re really close to the water.”
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“Name acts” such as the U.S. Navy and Air Force demonstration squadrons are not available for the 2025 show. Those services book their schedules two years in advance.
But Gillen said he expects to snare military acts in the future.
“We’ll get military and civilian aircraft that will be able to support the show in the meantime,” he added.
One independently confirmed performer is coming from FighterJets Demo Team. The company has a collection of military jets, and is sending a MiG-17 fighter to Atlantic City, pilot Randy Ball said last week.
“If you see a MIG-17, it’s usually one of ours,” Ball said.
Atlantic City has annually hosted an air show for decades, a string that snapped with the abrupt cancellation of a show planned for August 2024. The producer would have been David Schultz Airshows, which is based in Pennsylvania.
As of December, members of the Greater Atlantic City Chamber had said there probably wouldn’t be an air show until 2026.
Visit Atlantic City, a nonprofit formed and funded to promote economic development in a private-public partnership with the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, has taken over the promotion role for this year’s event while working with chamber members.
“This is not just an air show,” Gillen said. “There will be other activities going on at the beach and along the boardwalk. So, they want to promote coming for a couple of days and seeing the airshow but doing other things while you’re in town.”
According to its business profile, Herb Gillen Airshows has produced more air shows than any other group since its founding in 2005.
For information on where to stay and what to do in Atlantic City, see visitatlanticcity.com.
Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.
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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Air show back in Atlantic City, with some new twists and faces
