Chico Air Museum

A little drizzle didn’t stop us from heading out to the Chico Air Museum today. Located at the Chico Municipal Airport at 170 Convair Court, the Chico Air Museum is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A dedicated group of volunteers started the nonprofit museum in 2005 and since then it has grown to include many historic planes (some being restored on-site), plus several rooms full of expertly compiled and displayed local and national aviation memorabilia. The volunteers are especially helpful, offering stories of local lore. (The airport was a U.S. Air Force air field during World War II).

The volunteers hauled out a cute kiddie plane for Alec to ride around in. (Alec, who’s 4, looked a little nervous pedaling around and I couldn’t figure out why until he made it clear that he expected the wheeled plane to actually lift off into the air!) We checked out all the planes and then climbed into one that had been shot down by U.S. forces during WWII. You can sit in the cockpit and steer and everything. Way cool.

Even if your kid isn’t a plane fanatic, plan a visit to the Chico Air Museum. It’s free, but they always accept tax-deductible donations.

We visited last weekend and were quite impressed. A lot of effort went into these feature exhibits, which are drawn from the collection of Grace and Arvel Allread. There’s a baboon cage (no baboon, though) and scenes set up with a bear and another with an elephant. The vintage posters are great, and the freak show part isn’t too freaky to scare little kids. Alec’s favorite part was pretending to walk the high wire—an authentic tightrope placed along the floor. Visitors can also learn what makes a good “circus town” and see how the circus tent was raised.

This part of the exhibit closes Feb. 15. The next installments are: “Screamers, Bandsmen & Circus Fanfare March” running Feb. 21-March 29; “Wild, Wild West Shows” running Apr. 4-May 10; “Lions & Tigers & Bears, Oh My!” running May 16-June 21.