Chamber's 'D.C. Fly-in' May be Virtual This Year

The annual meetings between members of the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce and officials in the nation's capitol will still take place, but the visits may not be in person.

Originally scheduled for September 9-10, the, "D.C. Fly-in," has taken place in each of the last 18 years, but Chamber President Sandra Wilson says the final decision about this year hasn't yet been made.

Wilson said, "We will have some version of a D.C. trip, but it could be based in Paducah with a virtual-type meeting."

She said a small group traveled to Washington in February to discuss McCracken County's priorities for the budget process, such as the DOE site clean-up and transportation infrastructure. 

The chamber's priorities for this fall are requests for:

1. Continued funding for a new airport terminal and essential air service at Barkley Regional Airport.

2. Additional funding for the DOE plant's clean-up. Last year an additional $40 million was awarded beyond the $275 million in the budget.

3. Infrastructure funding for roads, railways, rivers and runways.

Wilson said the pandemic has caused some people or facilities in Washington to not be available, but phone calls are still being made to determine which version of a trip is most feasible. She said the meetings may be pushed back in hopes of having more conversations, either in-person or virtually. 

She said, "We've tried to wait as long as we could to see if anything had changed for the better so that we could be able to go, but at this point, we probably won't, so we're just working through all the details to look at it from every way."

If the meetings are delayed into October, Wilson said it's possible that local people could gather somewhere for a video conference with representatives from government agencies. She added that some elected officials would likely be in the area in October, too.

"We're working through all of those details to make sure that we have the most impactful meeting that we can have," Wilson said. "It takes a lot of calls and meetings to plan it and it takes a lot to change it."

She said the Chamber of Commerce will issue a press release when a plans are finalized.