‘Largest by far’: Barrie expresses sky-high hopes for 2026 Airshow with Snowbirds return

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds are making a return to the Barrie Airshow this summer.

The City of Barrie and Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden officially announced the 2026 Barrie Airshow Wednesday morning, which will include a full fleet of scheduled headliners.

Arguably the biggest one is the return of the CF Snowbirds, who announced their return to Barrie this past December.

“The Snowbirds are Canadian icons and they’re more than a generational icon,” said Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall. “It is so huge to have them back in the City of Barrie.”

Lt.-Col. Lyle Holbrook, the show’s air boss, used to fly with the Snowbirds. He specified how close they get.

“There’s one or two of the formations, like the big diamond, where they’ll actually have a bit of wing overlap,” he said. “Most of the other formations are either at wind tip or a little further apart.”

The city and base also confirmed a trio of other regular headliners for the performing fleet.

The CF18 Hornet will once again roar across the sky and flirt with the sound barrier, the CAF Skyhawks will parachute from thousands of feet, and the Northern Stars will paint the sky with aerobatics of their own.

There will also be a first-ever twilight show and fireworks show Saturday evening.

“It’s going to bring a lot of excitement I think to Kempenfelt Bay this June,” said Col. Wesley Cunningham, CFB Borden 16 Wing Commander. “We’re really excited to be supporting the City of Barrie and the County of Simcoe in bringing this Airshow to life.”

This past June, the Snowbirds were absent and the CF18 was grounded on the Sunday due to a technical issue.

The weekend still saw nearly 90,000 spectators and produced a $5.6 million economic impact.

With the Snowbirds back for 2026, the city is hoping that this year will be closer to the 2024 mark of 140,000 attendees.

“This will be the largest (Airshow) by far that we’ve experienced in Downtown Barrie,” declared Nuttall.

It would also provide that much more of a boost for downtown businesses.

“People come from different places to come and watch the Airshow,” said Carolina Dixon, a manager at the Beaver Rock Cafe on Dunlop Street East. “We’ve been going through tough times — everybody in their own personal lives — and it gives us a moment to connect with every single person.”

“Hopefully this Airshow event will bring a lot of happiness and business to all the business owners,” said Atul Vishal, owner of the new Debut Bar and Restaurant at Five Points.

Previous Airshows also included the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association ‘Harvards’ and the Stayner-based Edenvale Classics.

The city did not officially say whether they will be part of this year’s show but confirmed that the rest of the performing fleet will be shared in the coming weeks.