LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world are in Lakeland to help kick off the 50th Annual Sun N’ Fun Aerospace Expo.
This year’s event is expected to be bigger than ever before.
“I believe in the past it’s about $150 million annually that this event is pumping into our local economy over these six days,” said Gene Conrad, Aerospace Center for Excellence President and CEO.
People from 80 countries are being represented in this year’s expo.
It’s a dream event to attend for many aviation enthusiasts like Jon Eisele who grew up in Chicago.
“My family couldn’t always afford it so when I finally got to come here as a 20-year-old it was a really big deal for me,” said Eisele.
Eisele’s dream took new heights as he recently started performing in the air show as a paramotor.
“We run into the sky like a Greek myth,” Eisele said. “It’s kind of like if you’ve ever seen a drone show and you watch all the drones kind of changing formation and assembling. You see the same thing except it’s real people up there.”
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