Oct 24, 2026 · Prescott Regional Airport
Prescott AirFest 2026: a runway, a storm cloud and a $462,010 Mustang
Under ominous clouds and a few sprinkles, Prescott’s AirFest took over the airport. Walking down an actual runway, over chalk art of a jet painted across it, up to a black Ford Mustang GTD with a rope around it and a window sticker reading $462,010. My mouth dropped, and that was before the barbecue smell hit.
The sticker also lists a $3,700 gas guzzler tax and 12 miles per gallon, which tells you exactly what kind of car it is. Around it: planes from one-seaters on up, old trucks and cars, the Arizona Rangers, the sheriffs, the police and the Chamber all out, plus a beer tent and food trucks. All of it free.
What you missed on the runway
Most days, strolling down a runway gets you a talking-to from someone with a radio. On Saturday, Oct 24, from 11 AM to 5 PM, the City of Prescott and Prescott Regional Airport handed the pavement at Ernest A. Love Field to anyone who came in off Wilkinson Drive. No ticket, no gate fee, no pilot’s license.
Small planes lined both sides of the centerline, close enough to read the tail numbers. A yellow taildragger stuck its wing out like it was hailing a cab. A red and white bush plane stood on tires big enough to make a lifted pickup feel insecure. People who came for a quick look ended up leaning into open cockpits. Near the Pilot Institute tent, a drone the size of a patio table sat with its arms out. The Yavapai County Sheriff’s helicopter parked with its door open. Most of us only ever hear that one overhead.
Then you hit the chalk. Artist Zach Olsen drew a jet across the runway, flying through a blaze of orange and red, and signed it. Chalk, on a runway, under those clouds. They spent all day thinking about it.
Past the planes came the old iron: a red antique fire engine with Prescott lettered on its side and a big bell on top, a red pickup on whitewalls and a row of old trucks and cars somebody clearly waxed that morning. The only thing you paid for was lunch, and by then lunch wasn’t optional.
About that $462,010 Mustang
Yes, that’s the real number. Ford’s Mustang GTD starts at about $328,000, gas guzzler tax included, per Motor1 (opens in a new tab), so this one was wearing well over $100,000 in extras.
For that you get a supercharged 5.2-liter V8, 815 horsepower and a road-legal version of Ford’s GT3 race car. On a $462,010 tab, the $3,700 gas guzzler tax works out to a lousy tip. The car sat behind a rope on a field full of actual airplanes, and at least one of them looked like the sensible purchase.
Prescott airport history: 100 years, one prairie dog at a time
The city billed this one as the Prescott Centennial AirFest (opens in a new tab), and the math holds. Prescott’s first airfield opened on July 4, 1926, on ranch land eight miles northeast of town. The Sharlot Hall Museum’s Days Past archive (opens in a new tab) has the whole day, and it beats most movies.
A crew with shovels filled the prairie dog holes first. Old Ford axles from local garages became the tie downs. That morning the Aero Queen, Mabel Hixson, flew to Phoenix with pilot Frank Clarke and came back with the keys to that city and a vial of Phoenix air, meant to add “pep” to Prescott’s day. Army and Navy pilots dropped bags of flour on a target in a bomb-dropping contest. Clarke won the On to Prescott air race from Santa Monica, with a $500 purse and a silver cup on the line, then closed the night stunting over town with fireworks trailing off his plane. Rides were so popular the pilots stayed extra days. The cup now lives at the Sharlot Hall Museum.
The airport got its name two years later. On Aug 26, 1928, it was re-dedicated in memory of Ernest A. Love (opens in a new tab), a 23-year-old Prescott pilot killed in action in World War I. His name is still on it. Thousands of pilots have learned to fly from these runways, through Embry-Riddle and the private flight schools.
A hundred years on, the tie downs are better, the prairie dogs have lost the argument and the Mustang gets the rope.
When is Prescott AirFest 2027?
Not posted yet. This was only the second annual, and both landed in October, so watch for fall. When the airport sets the 2027 date, it goes in the Thursday email, so you can stop checking. Until then, the Prescott aviation page has the clubs and talks that run all year.
The place: Prescott Regional Airport, Ernest A. Love Field, 6110 Wilkinson Dr., Prescott, AZ 86301. Use the Wilkinson Drive entrance. Bring a jacket. Ask anyone who was there in October.
Were you there? Send your best shot. Know someone who stayed home over a few clouds? Send them this.