Sisters Eagle Airport to celebrate grand opening

With a glistening black ribbon of expanded runway and a new fueling station, Sisters Eagle Airport will ring in the Fourth of July with a grand opening event, inviting all of Sisters to celebrate the upgraded community asset.

The event, which takes off 7:30 to 10:30 a.m., will feature a pancake breakfast, a visit from local car clubs, a fly-in by pilots from across the region and informal tours of the facilities.

"We're definitely going to be showing the facilities off," said Hobbs Magaret of Sisters Eagle Airport.

The $750,000 upgrade to Sisters Eagle Airport expanded the runway to an FAA-standard width of 60 feet and smoothed out a prominent rise and dip. ConnectOregon IV provided $600,000 in grant funding for the runway improvements. The lottery-funded ConnectOregon IV grant comes from Northwest Oregon Area Commission on Transportation (NWACT).

A Phillips 66 fueling tank has been installed and the first fuel shipment was to arrive Monday.

Sisters voters approved annexing the airport property into the city of Sisters; the formal annexation is currently wending its way through the land-use process.

Representatives of airports across the region will be on hand for the grand opening, as part of what Magaret described as an ongoing effort to "increase the interconnectivity of Central Oregon airports."

Sisters Eagle Airport is owned by Benny and Julie Benson, whose firm, ENERGYneering Solutions Inc., is headquartered at the airport.