As many as 500 area Girl Scouts will be visiting Manhattan Regional Airport Saturday, August 8th to earn their aviation badges.

The event will feature static displays, tower tours and inspirational speeches by Air Race Classic teams and the Acting State Aviation Director, Tiffany Brown.

The event is the first one that the new Airport Director, Jesse Romo has planned.

“We’re pretty excited, this will be our first event,” Romo told the Airport Advisory Board Monday. “It’s one of the things that I had said during the interview process, and I had said repeatedly in my previous position that you have to make sure your airport is a part of the community, and not just located in one. Doing events like this kind of helps bring all of those things together.”

The Airport Advisory Board also learned of another event that is interested in coming to the airport sometime next year that would be a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House in Topeka.

Nancy Johnson, CEO of the Topeka Ronald McDonald House explained she is interested in hosting a pull-a-plane fundraiser at the airport sometime next year and was seeking tentative approval.

Johnson is still trying to work some of the details out for the event, but wanted to first make sure she would have the support of the Airport.

As it is still in the preliminary phase, not all of the details are worked out. The Advisory Board didn’t want to give Johnson a definite yes, but didn’t want to say no either. They did go ahead and give their voice of approval while she plans it out, with the expectation that Johnson will bring more information for final approval at a later date.