BRUNSWICK

When Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority officials decided to take the ball and run with The Great State of Maine Air Show last year, they knew they would need a sizable cadre of volunteers.

The military personnel who had run the event since its inception in 1962 were gone. MRRA put out the word: Help wanted.

Some 700 people responded, and many are back to staff this year’s air show, which begins Friday. People such as Royal Smith, a 1963 Brunswick High School graduate and retired U.S. Postal Service worker, who comes all the way up from Kennebunk.

“I saw that they were looking for volunteers,” Smith said. “Being from Brunswick, and being that I’m retired, I volunteered.”

Smith and his brother, Freeland D. Smith, are volunteer co-directors of public safety at the air show. While Freeland will come up from Kennebunk on Friday, Royal is staying at his son’s camp in Monmouth all week to be closer to the Brunswick Executive Airport grounds.

The brothers work with eight other volunteers to ensure the safety of the public. They wear vests identifying themselves, and have radios to contact authorities in case they spot a problem.

“We just watch what people are doing,” Royal Smith said. “We don’t want people climbing on any of the dis- plays or doing anything that might cause them to get hurt.”

Happily, Smith reported no such problems last year.

Smith, who went to a few air shows as a child, respects what these talented pilots do.

“It’s nice to be able to have something like this in the area,” he said. “They’re highly skilled at what they do.”

Marty McMahon, aviation services manager for MRRA, coordinates much of the volunteer effort. MRRA Executive Director Steve Levesque is comfortable that the undertaking is in good hands.

“Marty is pretty familiar with what needs to be done,” Levesque said. “It’s quite a bit of work, but we have a good crew.”

The community at large, some veterans and local nonprofits comprise much of the volunteer crew, Levesque said.

“There’s myriad things that have to be done,” he said. “We have to sell tickets and we have to prepare the airfield. That’s just the beginning.”

lgrard@timesrecord.com

¦ MAINE VETERANS for Peace has unveiled a protest banner that will be used on Saturday during the march and vigil opposing the Air Force Thunderbirds at The Great State of Maine Air Show. Story, page A3.