Brief History of the Everglades City Airport Lecture at Museum of the Everglades

Museum Manager Thomas Lockyear will discuss the evolution of the Everglades Airpark from a short, private airstrip used exclusively by Barron Collier’s sons to its present-day incarnation as a 29-acre public facility bringing an influx of over $2 million annually into the local economy. The role of airplanes in the region’s unique culture will be discussed in detail — from the fledging flights of Collier County’s first airborne law enforcement officer, William Riley “Clyde” Maynard (known as the “Flying Sheriff”), to site-seeing excursions and the involvement of stolen aircraft in illegal trades of the 1980s.