Nearly 50 family members, friends and fellow pilots crowded into the aviation library before 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Dana Booghier, president of the Champaign County Pilots Association, praised them all for their ability to keep a secret. Unfortunately, Hupman had been asked to undertake a last minute flight to Baltimore, so he was 15 minutes late for his own award ceremony.

Upon entering the Aviation Research and Learning
Center and seeing the crowd, Hupman was momentarily stunned.

"To say that I’m truly overwhelmed is an understatement," he said after receiving the plaque from the Federal Aviation Administration Safety Team (FAAST) program manager Kirk McConnell. "It didn’t really hit me until I walked through that door. All the way up I was racing through the interstates wondering what they could possibly want me to talk about? I was full of ideas about what they might have questions about, but obviously that’s not quite the case this evening for the program.

"So as I came in and I looked at all the people in attendance, of course it finally sunk in," he said. "My career over 50 years has been full of fun. I’ve met a lot of great people, some with the FAA, and of course my family, people I’ve worked with at Aviation Sales — now called First Flight Aviation. As I look around the room at friends and neighbors and so forth … you caught me off guard on this one and I’m really truly overwhelmed and almost speechless on what this represents."

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“We will probably be completely booked up by next week on Friday,” Sharon Stevens, owner of Stevens Bakery and Orchard, said. “Once I reach a certain number, I just can’t do anymore.”

With the help of a commercial kitchen including five ovens, Stevens is able to bake 70 pies at a time toward the 3,000 pies she will make for Thanksgiving pre-orders.

Stevens and her team will begin making the pie crusts the week before. This week the team made apple streusel pie topping with 150 pounds of butter to prepare for Thanksgiving pre-orders, she said.

The bakery offers apple streusel, blackberry, blueberry, cherry, peach, rhubarb, strawberry rhubarb, custard, chocolate chip cookie, pecan, pumpkin, sugar cream, banana, buckeye, butterscotch, chocolate, coconut, lemon, and peanut butter pies. “No sugar added” pies are available.

“Our best sellers are pumpkin, pecan, apple, and cherry pie,” Stevens said.

The bakery promotes that all of their pies are “made-from-scratch” without canned pie fillings or added preservatives.

“Our pies are a family tradition for a lot of families,”

Stevens said. “It’s just not Thanksgiving for them if they don’t have a Stevens pie.”

Stevens Bakery and Orchard is open noon to 4 p.m. Sunday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, go online to www. stevensbakeryandorchard. com.

Residents looking for a homemade pie from the Urbana-area have a few extra days to place their pre-orders.

The Airport Cafe, 1636 N. Main Street in Urbana, is accepting pre-orders until noon the day before Thanksgiving.

Owner Doug Hall said he has had between 75 and 170 Thanksgiving pie pre-orders, annually in previous years.

Apple, apple crumb, apricot, apricot crumb, banana, black raspberry, butterscotch, cherry, cherry crumb, chocolate, chocolate peanut butter, coconut, custard, lemon, peach, peach crumb, peanut butter, pecan, and pumpkin pies are available for pre-orders.

The cream pies are sold in the cafe daily for dessert.

Coconut and butterscotch are two customer favorites, Hall said.

Hall and his wife took over the cafe, located at the Grimes Field Airport, 15 years ago and have been sharing his great-grandmother’s pie recipes ever since.

“It’s neat watching the airplanes come in and out — that’s just an added bonus,”

Hall said. “Just being able to interact with the public, service the community and provide a nice restaurant for the town.”

The Airport Cafe is open 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

For more information, search for Airport Cafe on Facebook.
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Photo from Balloon Fest- Urbana, Ohio 

Champaign County will be aglow October 4-5 during this year's Champaign County Balloon Fest. The “Hot Air Affair” will be held at Grimes Field 4-9 p.m. on Friday and 2-9 p.m. on Saturday. Ticket prices are $2 for adults and teens, $1 for children 6-12 and children under 6 years are free! Enjoy music, a variety of food served by food trucks, contests, children’s activities and a dedicated beer garden for the adults.

Balloons launch at 6pm & later return to the airport for the evening "glow". 

Vendors can find information and an application to register here. Champaign County Balloon Fest organizers are looking for volunteers to work as crew members for balloonists, contact Elton Cultice at Grimes Field- (937) - 652-4319. 

The event is sponsored by the Grimes Field Foundation Committee.

The Champaign Aviation Museum, home of a WWII B-17 heavy bomber, the Champaign Lady, and a B-25, the Champaign Gal, will hold the fifth annual Remembrance Day Ceremony at 11 a.m. on Sept. 28 to honor the men who served in the Army Air Corps/Army Air Force during WWII. There is no charge to attend or to visit the museum.
Relatives and friends can honor their servicemen by participating in the ceremony and reading the airman’s name and Military Service Record. These names will be entered into the Hall of Honor and become a permanent part of the Champaign Aviation Museum, flying with the B-17 wherever it goes.
A link to the Hall of Honor application is available at here.

To read the full article & more about Champaign County check out Urbana Daily Citizen!