Castle AirFest 2026 in Atwater: Your October 17 Guide
At 6 a.m. on Saturday, October 17, the vehicle gate at 3515 Hardstand Ave opens for car-show entrants. It sits just west of the control tower at Castle Airport. That afternoon, the public portion of the 3rd annual Castle AirFest & Family Fun Day ends at 3 p.m. Three and a half hours later, Castle Air Museum starts a screening of "Flight of the Intruder" on Santa Fe Drive. No other Atwater date this fall packs as many hours into one place. That place is the former Castle Air Force Base, which this October holds more of the town's calendar than downtown does.
AirFest is free to attend. Castle Airport's event page lists static display aircraft, fly-bys, vendors, live music and a car show, and it also welcomes pilots who fly in. The car show is Castle Air Museum's Fall Blitz, held as part of AirFest and run on its own schedule.
Watch the two addresses. AirFest is at the airport on "A" Street, and the evening film is at the museum on Santa Fe Drive. Plan the gap between the afternoon and the movie with that in mind.
If you want to show a car, the deadline comes before the event. The $35 entry fee is an early-bird rate that ends October 8. Event T-shirts cost $30. Questions go to the Castle Air Museum gift shop at (209) 723-2182. General admission stays free. The $35 is only for people entering a vehicle.
AirFest has only run twice, so it got big quickly. Merced County Times said the first one in October 2024 drew "thousands" to Castle Airport. Its recap listed three P-51 Mustangs, a Coast Guard C-27J on display, a CalFire rescue demonstration, a live band, and the car show, which was then called Bombs Away. A later FOX26 community-calendar listing put that first crowd at about 5,000 to 6,000.
The second AirFest took place on October 18, 2025. Advance coverage promised vintage and rare aircraft, food vendors, the fall car show, two live bands and a DJ. We could not find a recap of how that day went, so those plans are all we can report.
This year's lineup hasn't been posted aircraft by aircraft. The airport describes the event in general terms: static aircraft, fly-bys, music and vendors. The past two years give a sense of what to expect, but nothing beyond those general terms is confirmed for 2026.
AirFest happens once a year. Castle Air Museum is open every day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with last admission at 3:15. It closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The museum says it has more than 80 aircraft and calls its bomber collection the most complete on the West Coast. Highlights include the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the Boeing B-52D Stratofortress, the Convair B-58 Hustler, and the North American B-25J Mitchell.
Prices are where local families can save. These are the museum's posted rates:
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Adults 18 to 64 | $25 |
| Seniors 65+, active or retired military, veterans | $20 |
| Ages 6 to 17 | $15 |
| Under 6 with a paying adult | Free |
| VC-9C Presidential aircraft tour, added to admission | $10 |
Two adults and two children between 6 and 17 pay $80 per visit. A Family membership costs $150 and covers two adults and their children 17 and under for a year of unlimited admission. A second visit within the year more than pays for it. Members also get into Open Cockpit Day free and save 10% at the gift shop. The museum's last Open Cockpit Day, on September 5, opened an F-106A Delta Dart and other aircraft to visitors. It also had live music, a Winton VFW beer garden, and local vendors.
Watch the days if you're planning a visit. The VC-9C tour runs on weekends from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., weather permitting. Copper Wings Cafe is inside the museum's main building. It is open Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and closed Sunday and Monday. Saturday is the only day you can get the presidential-aircraft tour and lunch at the café on the same visit.
The museum's online calendar is short after AirFest. It lists the October 17 car show, the October 17 movie, and a December 5 Members Dinner. That dinner is at the Merced Elks Lodge in Merced, not at the museum. November has nothing listed yet, so check back before you plan around a museum event that month.
Old Town Atwater is the nonprofit behind downtown's events. It is holding its October 14 Monthly Mixer, 8 to 9 a.m., at the Transportation Research Center, 3750 Turbine Dr., on the Castle base. When downtown's own business group meets on the base, the base is part of the town's civic life, not only a place to visit.
More is planned at Castle. In February 2026, Merced County Times reported the year's plans for the site: a new administration office and warehouse for M-Mig Construction, testing grounds for autonomous aircraft, new airport investment, and a Worknet employment site. These were reported as plans. We have not seen a later report that any of them is finished.
The museum's biggest project is also still a plan. In July 2026, KMPH reported that Castle Air Museum is raising money for an Aviation Pavilion to protect its historic aircraft. The story described it as a fundraising-dependent project with conceptual renderings and no construction date. A public-review draft filed with the City of Atwater in October 2025 laid out three phases. Phase 1 would move the SR-71 into a new hangar, and Phase 2 would add a café and gift-shop building. Treat those phases as a proposal, not a schedule. The Blackbird is still where it has been.
Downtown's October is quieter and is mostly Thursdays. Old Town Atwater's farmers market is next on Thursday, October 15, at 4 p.m. at Ralston Park. The group also added ArtWater on June 29, which it called its first community art day and a new monthly event.
Last year's calendar looked different. Old Town Atwater held its Fall Festival & Car Show at Ralston Park on September 20, 2025. As of early October, its 2026 calendar lists the mixer and the farmers market but no fall festival. So for now, the only fall car show on Atwater's calendar is the Fall Blitz at Castle Airport.
Atwater's other long-running fall stop is on the edge of town, toward farm country. ABC30's October 1 roundup of Central Valley pumpkin patches lists Hunter Farms Pumpkin Patch in Atwater, open September 26 through November 1. The farm's address is 2989 N. Southern Pacific Ave. The patch is open for about five weeks, so it covers the whole stretch of the base calendar. You could go the Sunday after AirFest, when the museum café is closed.
That gives Atwater's October this shape:
Three of those four stops are on the old base or off the main downtown blocks.
Christine Kinsley has worked Central Valley land and neighborhoods since 2001, and Castle's next phase is the kind of change she follows. If you'd like to talk about what the plans for Castle could mean for your part of Atwater, Christine Kinsley is glad to share what she's seeing. Let's Connect.
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