In a few months, Kempenfelt Bay will shake with the roar of CF-18 Hornets, while the sky above will be graced by arc of white smoke from the Snowbirds.
The decorated demonstration team's return will highlight the 2026 Barrie Airshow, taking place June 13 and 14, along with the addition of a cinematic twilight show. The Snowbirds cancelled in 2025 due to delays in training.
Aerial acrobatics will extend into the twilight show on the Saturday, with performers beginning in daylight and continuing through sunset, aiming to highlight the aircraft against a clear evening sky.
The City, along with personnel from the Royal Canadian Air Force announced the plans on Wednesday at Canadian Forces Base Borden, which include a finale of a fireworks display on the Saturday. The pyro replaces Barrie’s cancelled New Year’s Eve show at no additional cost to taxpayers.
Major Maciej Hatta, team lead for the Snowbirds, said in a news release that "the energy from the crowds lining the shoreline makes [the] show especially memorable."
Other performers confirmed for the event are the SkyHawks parachute team, Northern Stars Aeroteam, and Edenvale Classics.
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Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall said the event continues to grow in both scale and impact.
"Our largest was about 140,000 people, I think, for the weekend," he said to Barrie360. I don't doubt that that's going to be at least met this year... This is the strongest lineup that I've seen, but I think more than anything, there is a newfound enthusiasm about the Canadian forces."
The City says last year's event drew more than 90,000 spectators and generated over $5.6 million in economic impact.
Military pride is a key part of the event, year after year. Ground displays from CFB Borden, family programming, vendors and aviation-themed exhibits often scatter throughout the downtown and waterfront areas.
"Even though it's an airshow spectacle and the focus is going to be on the air, the Canadian Forces is much broader than that and having the Army and the Navy there just illustrates that," CFB Borden 16 Wing Commander Col. Wesley Cunningham said to Barrie360.
"There's a (sense of) patriotism that's attached to the airshow that is far beyond anything else that we do in downtown," Nuttall added. "It's a neat opportunity for our armed forces, both retired and current, to be able to show off some of their incredible skills."
Lt. Col. Lyle Holbrook, a former Snowbird, serves as the director of air operations and airboss for the show. He says countless colleagues have cited seeing an airshow in their youth as a big reason for joining the Canadian forces.
"I try to look around behind me a couple of times during the show, and it just fills my heart to see kids with their their mouth wide open in awe of what's happening," he explained to Barrie 360. "It's that inspiration piece that really fuels me."
It was also Holbrook, along with Barrie Airshow committee members that introduced the idea of the twilight show after seeing a similar performance in London, where he serves the same organizational role.
"We had a performer that performed with pyrotechnics on his wings, and he's got an aircraft fuselage that has LED lights all over it too," he explained. "So, the body of the aircraft lights up and the wings light up as he's shooting off some fireworks... He did it just at the end of civil twilight so it was dark-ish and it was awesome."
The City says more acts and details will be confirmed in the coming weeks, but Holbrook says there will not be a wing walker this year.
"We'd love to have them back, and we may next year, but we do always try to change it up a little bit so that the airshow doesn't get stale or predictable."
Festivities begin June 12 with a free outdoor screening of Top Gun: Maverick at Meridian Place.
Additionally, social media channels specific to the airshow can now be found on Facebook and Instagram with a goal of giving followers and attendees live updates during the event.
