Fountain Aviation, the new FBO at Albert Lea Municipal Airport (KAEL) in southern Minnesota, celebrates its grand opening with a fly-in open house on Saturday, September 26, 2026, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM CDT. Admission is free and everyone is welcome. Driving address: 400 Airport Road, Albert Lea.

Free all day: aircraft parked on display for a close-up look, a vote for your favourite airplane, hangar tours, a flight simulator, a paper-airplane building and flying contest, bouncy houses and a kids' colouring area. For a fee: airplane rides over Albert Lea, rides in a Commemorative Air Force BT-13 Valiant warbird (sold and operated by the CAF), and burgers and brats ($10 adults, kids free). Aircraft are static; this is not an air show and there are no flying demonstrations.

Schedule: 9:45 AM last call for airplane-show sign-up on the ramp; 10:00 AM doors open, food service and judging begin; 5:00 PM awards for the airplane show, the paper-airplane contest and prize drawings; 6:00 PM event closes.

Pilots, bring your airplane: fly in, park on the ramp and enter it in the show, whether it is tube and fabric, glass panel, homebuilt or a hangar queen made honest again. Entry is free, every participant gets a free meal, and first prize is $500 off your next annual at Fountain Aviation.

Details: Fountain Aviation and the Facebook event.