CHESTERTON- The National Park Service is canceling the annual Aviation Day Program this year at Indiana Dunes National Park, due to the difficulty in social distancing.
The program, offered the last two years at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center in August, celebrates Octave Chanute’s pioneering glider flights in the dunes during the late 1890’s. His work played a major role in the development of the airplane by the Wright Brothers.
In a statement the National Park Service says it hopes it can bring back the popular program in the summer of 2021.
One of the highlights of this year’s program was to be the showing of the new documentary, “Octave Chanute: Patron Saint of Flight” by local filmmaker Paul Nelson, who also worked at Lakeshore PBS.
The film will be shown locally on public broadcasting stations. Lakeshore PBS will air it on Sunday, July 5th at 8:00 pm and WNIT (South Bend) will show it on July 30th at 8:00 pm EDT. Other showings are planned; check your local listings for future opportunities to learn about this important part of our Indiana dunes history.