The annual Wings, Wheels and Rotors Expo, which was scheduled to start on Oct. 22 at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base, will not take place this year because the organizers could not reach agreement with the state agency that manages the facility.
The process leading to the event’s cancellation has been underway for some time. In 2015, after 13 years of allowing them, the Joint Forces Training Base put the kibosh on aerial activities at the annual Wings, Wheels and Rotors Expo, the Orange County Register reported Friday.
Now the plug has been pulled altogether on the biggest event in Los Alamitos. On Thursday, the Los Alamitos Area Chamber of Commerce announced the cancellation of its event on Oct. 22.
Emil Jorge, chairman of the chamber, said discussions with the California Military and National Guard broke down over wheels, not wings and rotors.
“The event includes a popular car show,” Jorge said in comments reported by the register. “We’ve always charged each entrant a small amount — $40 to $60. We were told we could no longer charge that fee.” Organizers learned that vendors could not rent space to sell retail merchandise such as T- shirts. Only food vendors would be allowed this time around.
As a result, the chamber was unable to afford the not-for-profit event, Jorge said, adding: “展e lost our ability to recoup our costs” even though the free expo costs only about $80,000 to put on.
The California Military Department issued a statement saying, “We are, at heart, a community-based organization, and as such, must ensure these important events meet stringent federal legal, fiscal and ethical guidelines. Unfortunately, the popular Wings, Wheels and Rotors event did not meet these guidelines.”
Wheels, Wings and Rotors has attracted as many as 35,000 people, although that number dropped by several thousand after the demise of helicopter and airplane rides, the Register reported.
—City News Service