Chapters at AirVenture 2026: A Practical Guide to Chapter Life at AirVenture

EAA’s Chapters team has firewalled the throttle as we race toward EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2026. With volunteers arriving every day to help bring our chapter activities to life, the excitement is definitely brewing. 

You have heard us say it before, but chapters truly are the heartbeat of this grassroots aviation organization, and EAA would not be what it is today if it wasn’t for chapter members like YOU. This year, we are being joined by a whopping one hundred and FOUR EAA chapters from across the country (and beyond!) that will call Camp Scholler their home for AirVenture week. 

Chapter members are the year-round force behind The Spirit of Aviation. If your chapter is like most, the first chapter gathering after AirVenture usually turns into a debrief of the week, only to be followed immediately by planning for next year’s trip!

So, as an EAA chapter member, what belongs on your AirVenture 2026 itinerary? Well, fellow chapter members, we have got you covered.

EAA Chapters Blue Barn

It is big. It is blue. And it is indeed a BARN. You cannot possibly miss this place if you are walking north on Knapp Street from the Control Tower. The Blue Barn serves as the home for EAA chapters and Young Eagles. Not only is this facility the spot to find an abundance of resources for your chapter, but it also serves as a grounding point for you as a chapter member within the grounds. When you are not speaking with chapters staff and volunteers about your ambitious plans for your new hangar, your youth programs, or your new pancake griddle, be sure to enjoy a moment off of your feet in one of our many Adirondack chairs donated by chapters. If you are lucky, you may find yourself in the company of other chapter members who are just as eager to hear about your chapter as they are to swap ideas to strengthen their own. 

Not to mention, this year we’ve got a slate of new activities and projects brewing in the EAA Chapters office the other 11 months of the year that we cannot wait to share with you. 

Be sure to check out the Blue Barn Forums Schedule and set a reminder to come and learn more about how you can strengthen the foundation of your chapter through various youth programs, educational opportunities, leadership resources, and ideas you can take home and put into action. 

If you are at AirVenture on Tuesday, July 21, make your way to the Brown Arch for the Chapter Mass Group Photo at 9 a.m.! 

Also, exclusively available this year at the Blue Barn will be a limited number of our very popular AeroEducate keychain kits. Kits will come in a pack of 10, and the cost to chapters per kit will be $20 (credit card only).

Chapters Pavilion

Are you really at an air show if you don’t wake up and start your day with a stack of pancakes? Come on down to the Camp Scholler Chapters Pavilion where EVERY morning of AirVenture a different EAA chapter will be hosting the pancake breakfast. Every pancake, sausage link, and cup of coffee helps these chapters head home with funds that they’ll use to support Young Eagles, scholarships, pancake breakfasts of their own, and so much more. 

Not only is this a prime spot to grab breakfast before you make your way to the grounds, but it is a niche area where the food tastes a little bit better when it’s doing some good. 

Chapter members camping in Camp Scholler should make it a point to visit the Chapters Pavilion throughout the week. Bring along your Chapter Conversation Starter Cards, grab a seat at a table where you don’t know anyone, and let aviation do the rest. In typical chapter member fashion, you’ll probably leave each morning with a few new friends and at least one invitation to a fly-in post-AirVenture.

Camp Scholler

The largest neighborhood of EAA chapters culminates in Camp Scholler the last few weeks of July every year. Over 100 chapters are participating in Chapter Camping this year, so be on the lookout for the chapter yard signs and wave hi to your fellow chapter members. 

The real energy of Camp Scholler arises after the air show ends. Chapter members return to their campsites, start their grills, perhaps open a cooler, and set up a couple of chairs to begin the day’s debrief. Before you know it, someone from another chapter stops by to chat, and they return to their campsite to acquire a chair of their own to join the Camp Scholler soiree. Then someone else comes along and shouts, “Is that you, John!?” and then another lawn chair is dragged into the assembly. 

The following morning is spent tracking down the lawn chairs to their respective campsites. 

Camp Scholler is a great gathering place for chapter members to meet, reunite, and share their aviation stories amongst like-minded company.

Do you have any questions before you head to Oshkosh? Feel free to contact the EAA Chapters office by phone at 800-564-6322 or by email at chapters@eaa.org.

We’ll see you in Oshkosh soon!