75 Future Aviators Took Over Terminal 3 for Paper Plane Palooza

Harry Reid International Airport turned a slow Tuesday into a runway for young imaginations, and it has us thinking about our own flight path into the weekend.

A terminal full of tiny test pilots

Tuesday morning at Harry Reid International Airport looked a little different than usual. Instead of rolling suitcases and boarding announcements, Terminal 3 filled up with about 75 kids from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada, each one armed with a stack of paper and a lot of confidence in their folding skills. The occasion was Paper Plane Palooza, the airport's annual event that turns basic aerodynamics into a full blown competition for local youth.

The format is simple and that is exactly why it works. Kids fold their own paper airplanes, then send them soaring for distance and accuracy while airport staff and community partners cheer them on. It is the kind of low stakes, high energy event that reminds everyone flight starts with curiosity long before it ever needs a pilot's license.

For a bar that lives and breathes aviation nostalgia, this is exactly our speed. There is something wonderfully full circle about the idea that some of these kids could be the ones designing routes or working the tarmac at Harry Reid a decade from now, all because a Tuesday afternoon paper airplane contest made flight feel like something they could touch.

More than just a folding contest

Paper Plane Palooza is built around a bigger goal than just seeing whose plane flies the farthest. Airport employees and partner organizations used the day to talk with kids about the wide range of careers that keep an airport moving, from air traffic control to ground operations to hospitality, giving young Southern Nevadans a glimpse of job paths they might not have considered before.

Every child who took part also went home with school supplies donated by Harry Reid International Airport and its partners, a practical bonus that lands right as summer break winds down. It is a nice reminder that community events do not have to choose between fun and function. This one delivered both in the same afternoon.

• Paper airplane folding and flying competition for distance and accuracy
• Hands on introduction to aviation careers from airport staff
• Free donated school supplies for every participant
• Hosted inside Terminal 3, the airport's newest concourse

A tradition that started with a birthday

The event actually began back in 2013 as a way to celebrate Terminal 3's first anniversary, since the concourse opened in June 2012. What started as an anniversary party has stuck around as an annual tradition, and it has quietly become one of the more charming ways Harry Reid connects with the community it serves.

There is a reason the airport keeps this one on the calendar year after year. It costs a stack of paper and an afternoon, and in exchange it gives dozens of kids a genuine, hands on taste of what makes aviation exciting. That is a trade worth making every single July.

Bring the flight energy over to us

Watching a terminal full of kids get hyped about paper airplanes is a good reminder of why we built this bar around aviation in the first place. Flight has always had a way of making people feel like anything is possible, whether that is a folded piece of copy paper gliding across Terminal 3 or a private jet touching down for a big weekend on the Strip.

So if today's story has you feeling a little nostalgic for your own first flight, or you just want to toast to Las Vegas' next generation of aviators, come by The Hangar LV. We keep the runway lights on for live music, good drinks, and private events that deserve their own send off, so swing in or book your next gathering with us and let's keep the good energy climbing.

5 reasons Paper Plane Palooza is our kind of aviation story

Every so often a purely local, purely fun aviation moment lands in the news and it just fits our whole vibe. Here is why this one stuck with us.

1. It is aviation at its most joyful: No jet engines required, just paper, tape, and a lot of enthusiasm.
2. It plants real career seeds: Kids left with an actual sense of the jobs that keep an airport like Harry Reid running.
3. It gives back beyond the contest: Donated school supplies made the day useful well past the final flight.
4. It has staying power: Thirteen years running since its 2013 debut is no small feat for a community event.
5. It happened in our own backyard: Terminal 3 is a quick hop from the Strip, tying this story right back to home.

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