ORR- Perfect flying weather and a lineup of visiting aircraft drew a good community turnout Sunday for the inaugural Airb’ORR’ne Fly-In at the Orr Regional Airport.
Event organizer Ross Coyer, who runs Cabin O’ Pines Resort on Pelican Lake with his wife, Lara, is a fifth-generation Orr resident and longtime aviation enthusiast. He learned to fly in Eveleth and now owns a small plane based in Orr.
“For now, we’re still doing some training,” Coyer said, “but it’s fun to see what can be and learn from other pilots.”
Coyer said the fly-in was a way to promote the airport and the area.
“Orr Regional is a great place to fly into,” he said. “The views are incredible. And we need a new generation of young pilots to come in and do a little work to keep it going forward.”
The partly-cloudy skies welcomed pilots from locations such as Duluth, Side Lake, and Grand Rapids, including one in an amphibious floatplane. Coyer said pilots found out about the event through advertising in local newspapers and online, and he hopes the fly-in becomes an annual tradition.
“We’d love to create something fun and unique here in Orr,” he said.
The event was enhanced by family-oriented activities, and children particularly enjoyed an airplane teeter-totter, while The Tasty Hub Food Truck served its menu of homestyle barbecue specialties.
Coyer acknowledged the help of city clerk Angela Fabish, the Pelican Lake Resort Association, Lara, and the airport staff in making the event possible.
Also present were several representatives from Bollig Engineering, the firm guiding multiple improvement projects at the airport.
Bollig specializes in securing funding for small-town infrastructure, and has been working closely with the city on multiple airport improvements. Aviation division lead Angela Holm said the firm’s role is to identify needs, match them with available grants, and guide projects from design to completion.
Recent successes include a new fuel system funded entirely by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board. Upcoming projects, funded by the Federal Aviation Administration along with MnDOT and the IRRR, include replacing navigational lighting this fall, upgrading the airport’s weather station next year, and designing a new four-unit T-hangar to be built in 2026.
The hangar project is already generating interest from prospective tenants, Holm said, and could provide long-term revenue for airport maintenance.
“Orr’s Airport has enormous potential to serve all of the tourism and resort visitors that come to this area to hunt and to fish and to enjoy the scenery,” she said.