The Park City-based Flying Ace All-Stars are cruising through their summer schedule at Utah Olympic Park. The freestyle ski team just completed their 8th and 9th shows last weekend, and have 14 to go before their season wraps up over Labor Day weekend in September.
The Flying Ace’s shows are held nearly every Friday and Saturday night, with their season finale on Sunday, Sept. 3. Former Olympians Fuzz Federson and Trace Worthington put on their first choreographed show in 1987, eventually creating Flying Ace Productions and moving it to Park City in 1998.
Patrons at Friday’s show swarmed Olympic Park nearly an hour before the show, taking advantage of their shot to see the Flying Ace’s Olympians on another beautiful summer’s day. They were treated to a breathtaking aerial display, where athletes launched off ramps up to 25 feet off the ground.
One of these Flying Ace Olympic athletes is Ashley Caldwell, who has participated in four consecutive Winter Olympic Games, earning a gold medal in mixed aerials in Beijing last year. Caldwell is thrilled with the practice opportunities that the shows provide, along with opportunities to earn money within the sport of skiing.
Caldwell detailed the shows’ atmospheres, which she surprisingly said even include impromptu tricks, with highly-skilled athletes pushing each other to the max.
“We have thousands of people come up here and watch us during the shows,” she said. “You never know what’s going to happen out there. People are always making bets at the top to see if someone will do a new trick or go higher; so every show is a little different and we’re constantly pushing each other to do fun things.”
Caldwell, who has been a Flying Ace since first moving to Park City over a decade ago, still has a passion for the shows and said she will continue with them as long as she is healthy. She didn’t rule out a run at a fifth consecutive Olympics either, but mentioned that she is taking a bit of a slow, relaxing year after last year’s Games.
The Flying Aces return to Olympic Park this Friday and Saturday, July 21 and 22, at 6:30 p.m., with tickets running $20 a person. The Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation also sells Family Four Packs. See the website to order online.