The Apple Blossom Festival and Parade has won the St. Joseph News-Press Reader’s Choice Award for the Best Parade or Festival for the last 11 years, and it’s not hard to see why. From the sights of the long-standing parade to the smells of the huge downtown barbecue and the sound of roaring jet engines at the air show, Apple Blossom weekend never disappoints.

“Ken (Rosenauer, Apple Blossom president) calls it our rite of spring,” says Michelle Wolfe, executive director of the Apple Blossom parade. “Everyone knows that the first weekend of May is Apple Blossom weekend.”

And with the addition of a few well-known American figures, this could be the best Apple Blossom weekend in years.

In the air

Only one air team in the entire world can make thousands drop their jaws while simultaneously humming the song “Dreams” by Van Halen: the Blue Angels.

The Blue Angels will be the headlining attraction at the Sound of Speed Air Show from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 1 and 2 at Rosecrans Memorial Airport.

In case you haven’t heard of the Blue Angels, it’s the U.S. Navy’s flight demonstration squadron. When the Blue Angels aren’t serving as goodwill ambassadors for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, they are performing some of the most precise flying maneuvers ever seen.

A Blue Angels flight demonstration begins with the C-130, affectionately known as Fat Albert, showing off its capabilities during a 10-minute performance. Then the crowd will be treated to the aerobatic maneuvers of the four-jet Diamond Formation in concert with the fast-paced maneuvers of its two solo pilots. Finally, the Blue Angels pull off the pinnacle of precision flying, performing maneuvers locked as a unit in the renowned “Six-Jet Delta Formation.”

“The sheer awe and might of all those F-18s in close formation is amazing,” says Lt. Col. John Klatt with the 148th fighter wing of the Duluth (Minn.) Air National Guard. “The kind of precision they bring to flying — to have a mass formation thousands of feet in the air at 36 inches apart — is very exacting (and) very impressive.”

Klatt ought to know. This weekend won’t be the first time he has been in the same air show as the Blue Angels. Klatt has performed at air shows since the mid-1990s and has wowed crowds with explosive maneuvers in his Staudacher S-300D, a unique little plane that weighs only 1,250 pounds.

“It’s pretty amazing because it’s so lightweight,” Klatt says. “It’s built of wood wings and tubular construction with some steel here and there. It makes for a very lightweight, very maneuverable plane.”

Klatt flies a much larger F-16 fighter in his day job with the Air National Guard, but he says he’ll always enjoy flying the Staudacher the most because of what he can do with it. Audience members constantly tell Klatt how impressed they are with his signature maneuvers like the “knife-edge wing wag.”

“Most aren’t accustomed to seeing an airplane tumble,” Klatt says.

Other notable performances include Neal Darnell’s Flash Fire Jet Truck, which broke the airshow speed record of 375 mph while racing an airplane in Florida in 2005; Franklin’s Flying Circus, which includes wing-walking pirates, a wing-dragging comedy act and a motorcycle-to-airplane transfer; and the U.S. Navy Parachute Team.

Parking and admission to the Sound of Speed Air Show will be free, but charitable donations will be accepted. For more information, call Rosecrans Memorial Airport at 271-4886 or visit www.ci.st-joseph.mo.us.

On the ground

If you plan on visiting Civic Center Park today or tomorrow, you might want to bring a bib and some moist towelettes.

The fourth Annual Missouri State Championship Apple Blossom Barbecue Contest will begin at 4 p.m. today at Civic Center Park.

Approximately 65 touring teams from Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and as far away as North Dakota and Florida will compete for $10,000 in prize money over the two-day event. At 6:30 tonight, the People’s Choice tent will open to give everyone a chance to sample and vote on the best pork loin prepared by the competition teams. The winning team will receive $2,000.

Tom Supple, event organizer and president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in St. Joseph, recommends visitors hit up 4 Legs Up BBQ from Great Bend, Kan. The team won the Jack Daniels World Championship Barbecue Invitational in 2008. And even if guests get full, Supple says they should still walk around and soak in the wisdom of each team.

“It’s a chance to learn what’s out there as far as barbecue goes,” Supple says. “You can talk to the teams and learn the secrets and get advice on rubs. It’s an educational thing.”

The Blue Angels and other air show performers will be available throughout the evening to meet the public, and Under the Influence will take the stage in the beer tent at 8 p.m.

On Saturday, the competition teams will get down to business as the Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned judging begins at noon. The awards ceremony will be held at 3 p.m.

And let’s not forget about this year’s parade just hours earlier. The Apple Blossom Parade will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Noyes and Frederick. It will then head down Frederick and turn down Ninth Street, then turn onto Felix Street and end at the corner of Fifth and Felix.

This year’s parade will likely be the most memorable in decades thanks to a guest appearance from the legendary Budweiser Clydesdales.

“I think the Clydesdales will be a big attraction,” Wolfe says. “It’s the biggest parade (in St. Joseph) already. They’ll make it that much better.”

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express and the arrival of the Blue Angels at the air show, the theme for this year’s Apple Blossom Parade is “Expanding Horizons: From Ponies to Planes.” All floats and other parade entries will be based on that theme.

Admission to the Apple Blossom Barbecue is $5 each day. For more information on the barbecue, call Supple at 238-7144 or visit www.appleblossombbq.com. For more information on the Apple Blossom Parade, call 261-0422 or visit www.appleblossomparade.com.