Sky-high adventure

“Air racing and air shows have been continuously in America and around the world since the beginning of aviation,” said Bill Beaton, the visionary who brought Sky Fiesta to Las Cruces. “It's always been a hallmark for motor sports, including aviation, to compete and to show their stuff.”

Beaton now heads a new organization that promotes air racing, but his plans are much bigger than that. He wants to bring the love of flying to everyone.

“They used to call it barnstorming and other things, but there's a great heritage of racing and air shows since the beginning of aviation,” Beaton said. “The whole thing is rooted in human nature, a desire to compete, whether it's to put on the best air show or to have the fastest airplane or have the coolest looking airplane. That's in the DNA of humans.”

A retired air racer and pilot, Beaton loves all things related to flying and he wants others to find joy and energy in it the same way he does. He worked as a deputy air boss at the Reno National Championship Air Races for four years. That 59-year event is the foundation for what he wants to build in Las Cruces.

With the help of so many others who have their roots in Reno, Beaton started a new organization to promote air racing, with a twist. He wants to combine air racing and air shows with a festival component that creates a community experience that you don't have to be an air racing or aerobatics aircraft aficionado to appreciate.

“We’re bringing that to Las Cruces,” he said. “The reason we're here is we've been searching the nation and there's only a handful of airports in the United States that can host both an air race and an air show and have the terrain to have a festival element as well. It's a unique airport.”

The plan began to unfold in 2023 when they brought some air racers to demonstrate the sport at what was then the Las Cruces Air and Space Expo, managed and produced by the city of Las Cruces for two years.

Air racing simulates motocross racing, but in the air, Beaton said.

“If you can imagine this, it's kind of like a pylon circuit on the ground that is anywhere from three to six miles long and eight airplanes are on the course at once,” he said. “They're racing between 50 and 150 feet off the deck. The sagebrush, or the mesquite bushes in this case, go by really quick. You’re trying to get around the person in front of you while flying this more or less oval course.”

As more activities were added in 2024, the organization designed three courses and were accredited by the Federal Aviation Administration. In 2024, they were the only approved air racecourses in the United States.

“Las Cruces put its stake in the ground and became the first non-Reno accredited air racecourses that were certified by the FAA,” Beaton said. “We're very proud of that. That gives us the opportunity to race on any one of those three courses for the next couple of years at least.”

At any given time in the United States, according to Beaton, there are probably fewer than 200 pilots with FAA air race licenses. Many of them now train in Las Cruces. Those pilots learn to race safely at speeds up to 400 miles per hour, 50 feet off the ground, with seven other planes in the vicinity.

Because of its economic infrastructure, Las Cruces has the bandwidth to host this show now and into the future Beaton envisions.

“We want to grow the event over time, and the vision that we've had since we first sat down with community leaders is this has the potential not only to be an amazing annual community event, but also a growing event that will attract international attention,” Beaton said. “We aspire to be the next Albuquerque Balloon Festival type event in New Mexico. For the record, the Albuquerque Balloon Festival is the largest aviation event in the world now. They attract over 900,000 spectators every year and they started with eight balloons in a field.”

Beaton sees the current more modest show with great acts, great excitement, growing into a multi-day event that grows to attract international spectators and brings tourism and economic development into the valley. That's in addition to having an amazing community event every year.

This year’s event will include air racing and the air show and will feature plenty of pyrotechnics and legendary World War II bombers simulating bombing in a very realistic fashion. It all escalates to a final 1,000-foot wall of fire that Beaton is certain will stay in the minds of those who attend forever.

“The spectators are 50 feet away from taxiing aircraft,” Beaton said. “At big air shows you don't get that.”

While all of that intense activity takes place in the skies above, exhibitors and vendors will be creating a well-rounded experience on the ground, including providing a lot of experiences to educate and entertain kids.

Sky Fiesta is on Saturday, Oct. 25 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Las Cruces Airport.

Parking will be readily available at the fairgrounds with buses running to make the in-and-out as painless as possible. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Sky Fiesta website at skyfiesta.org.