A sudden storm

forced the Great Georgia Air Show to evacuate spectators from Falcon Field

last year.

And although

the storm rains hurt attendance and caused the show to lose money, Peachtree

City's police and emergency personnel helped make the evacuation easier,

air show chairman Jerry Cobb told the City Council Thursday night.

After much

debate last May, the council agreed to fund $21,000 for the extra police

and fire personnel presence at the show. But the expenditure will be scrutinized

again at the March 7-8 council retreat to determine if the funds are technically

a donation to a nonprofit organization, which would restrict the amount

to $5,000 every five years, due to a city regulation.

The show, which

is put on by the Dixie Wing of the Commemorative Air Force (formerly the

Confederate Air Force) and the Peachtree City Kiwanis Club, lost approximately

$7,800 last year, Cobb said. The nonprofit groups who ran concession booths

only profited by $8,000 total, with some groups going into the red due

to the bad weather, Cobb added.

The Kiwanis

Club and the Dixie Wing chipped in $20,000 seed money for the air show

and they have already committed the same funds for this year, said Councilwoman

Annie McMenamin, who is also a Kiwanis member.

Advance ticket

sales for last year's show were way down "because the public knew

the (rain) storm was coming," Cobb said.

As for this

year's show, "We've already decided we're not going to have rain,"

Cobb said.

Mayor Steve

Brown said although the air exhibitions were cut back, it was still interesting

to view the variety of aircraft that were on display.