By JALEN WADE
Dozens of children spent the day on May 17 crawling in and out of huge model airplanes at the College Park Aviation Museum during its fifth annual Community Day.
The museum, located next to the College Park Airport’s airfield near College Parkway, filled with more than 300 visitors–mostly families and small children ranging from toddlers to early adolescence. Children ran around the various exhibits looking at antique planes and parts, coloring images of Snoopy dressed as an aviator and spinning miniature plastic plane propellers.
“So, you know, this being the oldest continuously operating airport in the world, you got people in the community who either are like ‘Hey, I didn’t know you guys were there at all,’” John McCaskill, the museum’s public program manager, said.
During Community Day, officials from the museum promoted the facility to residents and tourists, McCaskill said.
Parents took photos of their children, who got to sit inside large-scale mockups of small planes to pretend they were in an actual cockpit. Another station offered miniature Lego sets for the little ones to build with, and some sat outdoors for a reading of the children’s book, “The Museum of Everything.”
Robert Pesapane, a father from Brentwood, said Community Day was a chance to educate his 3-year-old son about aviation.
“I think it’s great that they offer Community Day and invite the community in to understand and appreciate aviation,” Pesapane said. “And so it’s a very kid-friendly place and it’s great to expose the kids to aviation and learn all different things about flight, and so it’s exciting.
Educational displays during the event included one where museum workers demonstrated the mechanics of a Wright brothers’ plane.
College Park Airport opened in 1909, when it was founded by the Wright brothers, according to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), which owns the airport. The airport houses a replica of a Wright brothers aircraft.
Visitors who scanned QR codes on some of the displays could view 3D photographic models of planes, mechanical gears and the aviator caps worn by pilots in the early 1900s.
Outside, at the back of the museum near the airfield and airport building, children rode on toy versions of planes.
McCaskill said one of the goals of the event was to reach the city’s Spanish-speaking residents, so some of the displays had QR codes leading to Spanish-language explanations.
Roberto Rodriguez, a Riverdale resident who was born in Mexico and attended the event, said Community Day was inclusive.
“I think that it invites and it welcomes people to check out these spaces and to see them as part of the community,” Rodriguez said. “Actually, we were planning to come back later on. We really like the space. It’s pretty inclusive, pretty welcoming for families, for kids. So again, when you have the little ones, it’s important to have safe and welcoming spaces.”
Rodriguez said he planned to eat lunch at a tent at the event featuring food from one of his favorite restaurants, Cocineros Modern Latin Eatery. “I’m a big fan of them,” Rodriguez said of the Hyattsville-based restaurant.
University of Maryland students staffed a table at the event that invited parents to sign up to participate in infant and child studies research. M-NCPPC offered a photographer to shoot professional photos of families attending the event.
Throughout the museum, musicians from Riverdale Park Arts demonstrated how to play percussion instruments and the trumpet, violin and clarinet.
Patrick Bain, the musician running the percussion table, said the event was a “musical petting zoo” to encourage kids to take an interest in music.