World Freefall Convention may land in Rantoul

By Tim Mitchell

RANTOUL – A major international skydiving festival is eyeing a move from Quincy to Rantoul. The directors of the World Free Fall Convention met with the Rantoul Village Board at a special meeting Monday night to propose bringing their event to the airport in Rantoul for five years, with this year's event set for Aug. 2-11.

The village board voted 4-0 to authorize negotiations with the convention to host the event. Village board members Helen Lewis and Chuck Smith were absent. "It sounds like a great event," said village board member Herman Fogal.

Convention President Don Kirlin of Quincy said his organization chose Rantoul over eight other communities across the United States. Kirlin said the event had outgrown Quincy's smaller airport. He said it was becoming increasingly difficult to interrupt scheduled airline flights headed in and out of the Quincy airport for 10 days.

Meanwhile, as a former Air Force base, Kirlin said Rantoul's airport is large enough to support large numbers of parachutists for many years to come and doesn't have airline service.

"If I were to have designed a facility for us from scratch, it would look like the Rantoul airport," Kirlin said. "We're looking for a permanent home, and this one tailor fits our needs."

Kirlin is an airline pilot for U.S. Air and the owner of 116 Kirlin Hallmark stores in 10 states.

The World Free Fall Convention brings together thousands of sky divers from all 50 states and 55 countries around the world to demonstrate a variety of skydiving jumps and stunts.

Held for the last 12 years at the Quincy airport, the event drew 3,244 sky divers who completed 54,000 jumps in 2001. In the previous year, the event drew 5,732 sky divers who completed 63,000 jumps.

Since the venue is changing, Kirlin said he expects to have 2,500 sky divers and between 15,000 and 20,000 spectators in Rantoul this year. "The people are going to test the waters the first year to see how it is," Kirlin said. "I would not be surprised to see closer to 6,000 sky divers the second year."

Except for one Boeing 727, Kirlin said he anticipates all the aircraft needed for the event would take off and land at the Rantoul airport. Kirlin said organizers are planning plenty of activities for festival spectators, ranging from hot-air balloon rides to tandem sky dives, accelerated free-fall training, heliocopter rides, a wind tunnel, biplane aerobatic rides and a carnival.

Kirlin said he intends to open an office in Rantoul, manned by four full-time employees. Another 110 to 120 part-time employees would be hired for work during the festival, and his organization hopes to recruit between 200 and 300 volunteers from the area.

Since the first weekend of the event would conflict with the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum's Wheels and Wings Festival, the museum's board of directors has voted to discontinue the air show, according to museum Executive Director Jim Snyder.

Snyder said convention organizers have offered to make a charitable contribution to the museum to make up for lost revenue. Rantoul Village Administrator Gary Adams said Kirlin contacted the village a month ago about the possibility of bringing the event to Champaign County.

Airport officials have been looking for a major event to replace the U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championships, which left Rantoul in 2000 following a three-year run at the airport.

Adams said the skydiving event became attractive because, unlike the balloon fest (which relied on sponsorships and gate receipts for the bulk of its income), the World Free Fall Convention is entirely supported through entry fees paid by the participating sky divers. "I know I sleep a little easier knowing that we won't be depending on people coming through the gates to cover the expenses," said Rantoul Mayor Neal Williams.

Kirlin said his event operates with an annual budget of approximately $1 million. Under a proposal presented to the village board on Monday, the village would be obligated to:

• Provide the convention with the use of the airport and the Prairie Pines Campgrounds for the 10 days of the festival free of charge.
  
• Spend $10,000 to be used for promotional and advertising materials and T-shirts and hats for the jumpers.
  
• Coordinate efforts between Rantoul police and event security guards.
  
• Arrange for an ambulance to be stationed at the airport during the festival.
  
• Provide a snow fence for security and a few offices at Grissom Hall for event headquarters.
  
• Provide the festival with a liquor license for the 10 days.

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