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Winter Haven, FL Regional CFO Flyin
25th Annual Winter Haven CFO Flyin
Winter Haven, FL (GIF)
Saturday-Monday, April 11 - 13, 2026
(The weekend before Sun 'n Fun Flyin)
To register for this event, Click Here
Make plans now to join us as the Cardinal Flyers celebrates our 25th year at Winter Haven,
enjoying the presence of excellent aircraft and the company of our CFO family the weekend before Sun 'n Fun.
The event starts on Saturday evening with a reception at Grove Roots Brewing Co, located at 302 3rd St SW, Winter Haven. We will be enjoying excellent food and good company, catching up with friends new and old.
The airport fly-in portion of the event kicks off on Sunday morning. The agenda includes a group review of the many dozens of Cardinals on the field. We will look for unique details, impressive paint, clever solutions and outstanding panels. The walk-around will be followed by a delicious BBQ lunch and an after-lunch discussion in the grove.
The awards banquet will be on Sunday evening, after the airport day. It will be at: Most Likely South Florida Catering. It is always a great time, with good food, discussion and of course the presentation of awards, including the coveted People's Choice Best Cardinal of Show.
Our Monday field trip this year will be a visit to (TBD), More info to follow.
Monday evening after the day trip we will have a group reservation at the Outback next to the hotels for an off-the-menu dutch treat dinner.
Throughout the event there will be plenty of opportunities to ogle over Cardinals and talk with their owners in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere, share tech talk and generally have good fun in the Florida sun. Read on for the detailed logistics and agenda.
Many of us will stay in Winter Haven and drive to Sun 'n Fun. Winter Haven is a great base for seeing Sun 'n Fun, with far smaller crowds, less crowded restaurants and better prices in exchange for a short drive. Ride the Winter Haven airport shuttle, keep your rental car or pair up with other CFO members and see the show with your Cardinal friends.
Join us for the Cardinal Forum on Wednesday at 10:00 in the blue forum building on the Sun 'n Fun grounds. Check the signs for the meeting room. The initial schedule has us in room (room still TBD).
There may be a temporary control tower in effect at the Winter Haven Airport, starting on (Confirm) likely Monday, April 13th, as there was in 2024. That is after our event but may be in effect for your departure. There is a plan for GIF to have a full time remote tower, but the launch date for that is currently "Mid 2006" or later.
The Winter Haven Airport continues to be a great help to us in these events, so please make an effort to support them as much as possible.
The airport may be selling Sun 'n Fun access wrist bands (last year they did not for the first time.) They will have a shuttle to the SnF grounds from their terminal. Several of our folks used the shuttle in past years and reported it to be a great way to enter the grounds, avoiding the cost and walking required when parking, not to mention the mud, dust or smoke (depending on which we'll get this year). Here is a link that will show the services they are offering for Sun 'n Fun this year.
To register for this event, Click Here
Preflight Checklist:
- Register
Please register for the event so we will have food for you! The price goes up the week before the event, as our costs go up for late reservations.
- Hotel. Reserve ASAP, as the hotels are always busy, and our block will be released to public access on 3/9/2026
CFO has reserved a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn. Our group rate will be $159. To reserve a room from the Holiday Inn block,
please make your reservation using this link. To change the default day range, click on the dates block, then your day of arrival, then day of departure.
Or you can call the Holiday Inn at 1-863-292-2100. Ask for the Cardinal Flyers block.
We also have a block of rooms reserved at the Hampton, which shares a parking lot with the Holiday Inn. Please make your reservations for their block
using this link.
The Hampton phone number is 1-863-299-9251. If you call, ask for the Cardinal Flyers block.
There is a chance that you may have access to a special corporate or other rate for either of these hotels which would be lower, feel free to give it a try.
There are limited rooms available, so you may need to extend your search to other hotels.
- Rental Car: (in the terminal).
Reserve your car from Hertz at 863-298-0651 (press option 5 to talk to the office) during business hours in Florida (8:00AM-6:00PM Eastern). Rates are currently variable day by day, so the price can't be known until you make a reservation. Be sure to ask for the CFO rate using CDP number: 1499515. If you have a Hertz Gold Card let them know, it will help.
If you prefer to rent from Enterprise, they are now down the street and not on the airport. To reserve with Enterprise call 863-956-1631.
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- If you have any problems making any of these reservations please let Debbie know. She stays in touch with the teams and management of these providers and can help work out (most) wrinkles.
- Be Patient, prepare your airplane, stock up on sunscreen (we can hope!) and wait until April 11 to fly to Winter Haven.
- Fly to Winter Haven on Saturday, April 11 arriving before the 6:30 social event. Watch for the parking volunteers on the east side of the main runway by the grove. Debbie will be doing registrations at the airport on Saturday afternoon.
- Drive or catch a ride to the evening social event which starts at 6:30.
- Enjoy the event! We're looking forward to seeing you there!
Flyin Schedule and Agenda:
| Saturday 2:00-5:00 |
Registration at airport |
| Saturday 6:30-9:00 |
Social mixer at Grove Roots Brewing Co, located at 302 3rd St SW, Winter Haven |
| Sunday 8:00 AM |
Registration and arrivals at airport |
| 9:00-10:00 AM |
Airport walkaround starts |
| Noonish |
Lunch in the grove: we will announce when ready. |
| 1:00 PM |
Discussion and program in the grove |
| around 3:00 PM |
Wander and ponder, possible deeper inspections |
| around 4:45 PM |
End of airport activities. |
| 6:00 PM |
Gather at: Most Likely South Florida Catering |
| 6:30 PM |
Awards banquet at Most Likely South Florida Catering |
| Monday all day |
(TBD) |
| 6:30 PM |
Dutch Treat dinner at Outback by Hotels |
Please plan to volunteer to help! Please click on a time slot to sign up below to handle a task for a short while so everyone will be able to enjoy the day. There are always many other tasks which need doing, and we greatly appreciate all who pitch in to help where they can.
We especially need people to handle parking airplanes. This is a lot of fun but only for an hour or so... please sign up for an hour and help carry the load.
We also need someone to take pictures of each airplane, and hopefully a few overall shots. We've had some excellent photographers step up in the past, anyone up to the task this year?
To register for this event, Click Here
More details:
To help you find things here are a few maps and details: (These will be updated before the event.)
There will be a TBD - was $.20 per gallon last year discount on truck delivered fuel for CFO members at Winter Haven. There is also a self-serve pump on the ramp which may have a better price.
We had a great time in past years, check out past reports from
2025,
2024,
2023,
2022,
2015,
2014,
2013,
2012,
2011,
2010,
2009,
2008,
2007,
2006,
2005,
2004,
2002,
2001
or 2000 events
To register for this event, Click Here
The following people have registered for this event: (⛥ aircraft are prior Best in Show winners)
| Attendee Name | Registration Number | Arriving from | Comment |
|---|
| Keith & Debbie Peterson | ⛥N177KP | Hampshire, Illinois | Looking forward to seeing everyone! |
| Karl Thomas | ⛥N177KM | Sunnyvale, Texas | Nothin' better than a Cardinal gathering !! |
| Paul Whippo | N274LH | Carlisle, Pennsylvania | Looking forward to seeing everyone!! |
| Michael Johnson | N124KA | Edgewood, Texas | |
| Ronald Willke | N35850 | Edgewood, Texas | |
| Jonathan Baxter | N34221 | Naples, Florida | Looking forward to this event! |
| Keith Monteith | N52643 | Ballwin, Missouri | |
| Keith Monteith | N52643 | Ballwin, Missouri | |
| Jacque LaValle | ⛥N20217 | Lexington Park, Maryland | Looking forward to seeing all our Cardinal Brethren at Winter Haven |
| Dane Ward | N34316 | Rising Fawn, Georgia | It’s always great seeing our fellow Cardinal pilots! |
| Curt Stoltz | N8033G | Winter Haven, Florida | |
| ROBERT Taylor | N34905 | Mesa, Arizona | |
| Robert Taylor | N34905 | Mesa, Arizona | Be great to see all the Cardinals and vis with all the pilots |
| Amado Ravelo | N34102 | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | |
| Richard Benton | | Clinton, Mississippi | |
| Jack Bartholet | N132SM | Columbus, Georgia | |
| perry sharpless | | Monrovia, Maryland | |
| Russ MacDonald | N52636 | Richmond Hill, Georgia | |
| Mark White | ⛥N68VV | Charleston, West Virginia | |
| Derek Thompson | N16066 | Dunkirk, Maryland | |
| Steve Barrier | N11172 | Columbia, South Carolina | |
| Dick Zuley | ⛥N177RZ | Chicago, Illinois | |
| Tom Saxon | ⛥N478TS | Leesburg, Virginia | Cardinalmania at its finest! |
| Marc Tucker | N7614V | Huntsville, Alabama | |
| Gil Hamilton | ⛥N177LF | Leesburg, Virginia | |
| Jeff Mayworm | N1616H | Ocala, Florida | |
| Keith Baumann | N3334T | Fairfield, Illinois | |
| Bill Harris | N52074 | Blacksburg, Virginia | |
| Steve Barrier | N11172 | Columbia, South Carolina | |
| Jim Conn | N1375C | Ruskin, Florida | |
| Ty Janney | N177PC | Fredericksburg, Virginia | |
| Philip Olson | N2893X | Garden Plain, Kansas | |
| Charlie Tagart | N11596 | Senoia, Georgia | |
| Don Imhoff | ⛥N2131Q | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | |
| Don Imhoff | ⛥N2131Q | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | |
| Christophe Masiero | ⛥N52944 | Winter Garden, Florida | |
| Alan Walter | N2AW | SILVER SPRINGS, Florida | |
| Curtis Berry | N52543 | Williamsport, Maryland | |
| Ray Hoctor | N690TS | Webster, Texas | |
| Dollard LeBlanc | C-FLDF | Venice, Florida | Driving in. Still waiting to get my medical back. Anxious to see all the great 177's! |
| Ted Short | N34896 | NOKOMIS, Florida | Driving in with Dollard |
| Paul Millner | N177SD | Berkeley, California | Harry is a committed attendee this year! |
| Kevin Stakem | N548FD | Montross, Virginia | |
| Trace Wilson | N2864X | Saint Johns, Florida | |
| Jiju Johnson | N30754 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Tentative; hoping to make it on Sunday. |
| S. James Chorvat II | N177JC | Brooksville, Florida | Though not flying; I’m still coming to the blessed CFO event. |
| Jay France | N112NC | Colbert, Georgia | |
To register for this event, Click Here
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Phone: 847-683-4799
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