AJC.com > Breaking News > Archives > 2006 > April > 29 > Entry
Spectators settle in
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The waits get into the parking lots for the air show at Naval Air Station Atlanta were shorter than the waits to get into the portable toilets.
Traffic flowed smoothly and without backups all morning under a well-organized plan. It had people parking in three large lots nearby and riding a fleet of buses into the base.
The waits for shuttles, which moved people from the lots to the base show area, provided the only significant delays.
It took one to two hours of standing in line to catch a shuttle once the crowds began arriving in force.
People arriving early avoided those long waits.
Grant Scarborough of Porterdale, Ga., got up at 5 a.m. and arrived at the parking lot at Whitewater park about 6 a.m. He was the second person in the parking lot, he said.
“I was kind of excited about it. I was determined this year to get on the base,” he said.
Officials limit the crowd to the first 50,000 people, though thousands of others watch from nearby roads, yards and parking lots.
“From what I’ve been told, this may be the last (air show), so I want to see it all,” he said.
He stepped onto the first bus leaving the parking lot about 8:30 a.m.
Others avoided the delay of standing in a shuttle line simply by pulling out their folding chairs in the parking lot at Lockheed, which adjoins the air base.
Greg and Mary Anne Bedingfield of Marietta made the easy drive from their home in minutes, but when they saw the line for the shuttle they had second thoughts.
“I asked [one of the workers], ‘Can you see real well from the parking lot?’ And she said, ‘Oh, sure.’”
The Bedingfields settled in next to their car and enjoyed the show.
“And this is right next to the exit,” Mary Anne Bedingfield said. “This is a good place.”
