Flying high with Les Faucheurs de Marguerites
Another weekend of soaring summertime fun is gearing up this year with the 24th edition of Les Faucheurs de Marguerites at the Sherbrooke Airport. An event for pilots, flight enthusiasts and even just those who are curious about aviation, this annual gathering of pilots offers the opportunity to see airplanes of all kinds up-close and personal.
“It’s a gathering for our “family” of recreational aviators, first and foremost,” said the event’s president, Réal Paquette, explaining that Les Faucheurs de Marguerites has been both a non-profit organization and a yearly event that celebrates all things high in altitude since tis founding in 1995. “Our second mission, though, is
to spread our love of aviation to the general public.”
The Faucheurs de Marguerites, which will be going on this next Saturday and Sunday, June 16 and 17, will gather over 300 planes and helicopters to the Sherbrooke Airport. According to Paquette the gathering regularly attracts around 5,000 visitors from all over Quebec.
To the president, it is important for people to realize that flying isn’t as exclusive a hobby as many might think.
“It’s a pastime that is more accessible than people know,” he said. “You just have to prioritize. It’s not exclusive to the rich, to own a plane. A lot of us built our own.”
Paquette went on to say that planes, unlike cars, don’t really age. In fact, many members of Les Faucheurs fly models from WWII.
“Some of us fly planes from 1946, and their plane isn’t considered old at all. As long as the parts are well maintained, you’re good,” he said. “My engine, for example, dates from back to 1956, and it’s very reliable. That may sound unique to you, but it’s very common. With a plane, it’s simple: if the parts don’t work you don’t fly. Dates don’t matter.”
This type of interesting tid-bit is exactly what visitors will find at the event this weekend: there will be workshops, conferences, and tables out selling all kinds of goods related to flying. There will also be a plane contest for the aviators, with prizes being given out in multiple categories such as for the most beautiful plane or the best plane built from scratch.
The event provides an opportunity, Paquette explained, to see a side of the world of aviation that is often restricted to those who can fly.
“All the areas you can’t usually go to when you go to the airport, they’ll be open,” said Paquette. “You can go on the landing strip, the hangars, you get to see all the planes and talk to pilots.”
There will even be plane and helicopter rides on-site. Paquette also revealed that the event partnered up with the Wish of a Lifetime Foundation to give a special lady a special exclusive ride as well, on Saturday afternoon.
“This 84-year-old woman, she grew up in Belgium near a military camp,” he said. “She’s always wanted to sit in a plane like the ones she saw growing up. The foundation people approached me with her wish and it turned out that we’re going to have exactly the type of model she would have seen: the L-29 jet.”
The Aero L-29 Delfin, Paquette explained, is a military-grade Slavic jet from the Cold War era. Besides that exciting model, he also hopes to have a Griffon, an military-grade helicopter that is used for search-and-rescue missions.
Les Faucheurs de Marguerites costs $10 to attend both days of the event. Pilots who choose to fly in and children under the age of 16, however, get in free. Besides the tours, contest, conferences and workshops, there will also be music, camping, food on-site and a clown to amuse the little ones.
What’s in a name?
“Les Faucheurs de Marguerites”, or “The Daisy Mowers”, seems an odd name for an event and organization that celebrates pilots and their love of flying. Paquette revealed with a chuckle that the name stems from childhood nostalgia.
“In Europe, way back in the day, people would take out their flying machines and fly for fun. There weren’t any airports or anything, so they would land in fields. When they did, they’d wind up cutting down all of the flowers that grew there, namely daisies,” he explained.
“In the seventies, they named a TV show about pilots “Les Faucheurs de Marguerites” in honor of that” continued Paquette, referring to a French-canadian-german series that ran on Radio Canada between 1974 and 1975. “I loved that show. I wanted to be just like them. It’s what inspired a lot of us, I think, to get into planes and flying, so it seemed appropriate to name our group after it!”