OSHKOSH, Wis. (WFRV) – The large-scale EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh takes an enormous amount of effort to pull off.
Nearly 5,000 people volunteer at the event throughout the week, making sure everything goes smoothly.
Click here for a full recap of Day 4 at 2025 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
These volunteers do everything from setting up the event weeks early to helping flight control, event organization and operating travel throughout the EAA campus. Other volunteers even make the food for all of the other volunteers throughout the week.
These volunteers come from across the nation and globe.
Volunteer Organizer Michel Bryson said EAA has people from ‘literally everywhere’ who volunteer their time.
“From Chile to Germany to Thailand to Indonesia and Canada, [they’re] from literally everywhere,” Bryson said.
Volunteers are using their own time, including vacation from their jobs, to work the event. Adam Crail, who has been volunteering since 2012, says he works his hardest during the event.
“I save all my vacation for this, this is my vacation,” Crail said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
But for many volunteers, the week is like a family reunion.
Click here for a full recap of Day 3 at 2025 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
“The CEO of EAA posted online a ‘get out of work letter’ that I sent to my boss, even though I had it all approved,” Crail said. “In that letter, he called it a family reunion. I truly believe that this is all our chosen family.”
While the main event is happening in the air, it’s the people on the ground making all the difference this week.
