As Yogi Berra once said, we’re lost, but we’re making good time.
We’re in the middle of summer, and in a lot of places that means summer festivals, like the WoodyFest, the music festival in Woody Guthrie’s hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma, which is getting underway.
To me, the more festivals, the better, but that’s not the case for everyone.
Such was the case for Patrouille Swiss, the official aerial acrobatics team for Switzerland, last weekend.
If you’ve ever seen a precision flyover, you know how they work: their bright red jets emblazoned with white Swiss crosses take to the air in very tight formation to show off the pilots’ impressive skill.
And that’s what they were doing when they took off this weekend toward the community of Langenbruck, where there was a festival honoring a local aviation hero.
Oskar Bider in 1913 became the first man to fly over the Alps in both directions.
Patrouille Swiss was in fine form as they flew overhead, except for one thing: they weren’t actually over the event in Langenbruck, but the next town over.
And instead of paying tribute to a fellow pilot, they’d accidentally done a flyover of the 31st Northwest Yodeling Festival.
A spokesperson explained that the squadron is old-school; they don’t use GPS to navigate.
When they spotted tents on the ground, they figured they must be in the right spot.
Not so, as it turns out, but I think there’s an easy solution.
We just need to send a few yodelers over Langenbruck singing a song about Oskar Bider, and that should fix it, right?
If festivals aren’t your thing, maybe you’ll enjoy a trip to Poster House, the first American museum that’s fully about posters and their history.
The museum opened last month in Manhattan, and in addition to seeing iconic posters from around the world, there’s also a booth where you can add your head to the Rosie the Riveter poster.
Or you can separate your head from your body in the famous “Self Decapitation” poster from magician Harry Kellar.
Just know that the head will go back on.
Swiss aerial display team flies over yodeling festival by mistake (Deutsche Welle)
Poster House Is the First Museum in the United States Dedicated Exclusively to Posters
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