ATCHISON, Kan. – Nearly 87 years after Amelia Earhart’s disappearance, the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum will host panel discussions about the mystery of her plane’s location and what happened to the famed aviator.
Adventure Amelia on July 19 and Deep Dive With Deep Sea Vision event’ on July 20 will happen in tandem with the Amelia Earhart Festival in Atchison. The Northeast Kansas community is intentional about keeping the famed aviator’s legacy alive in her hometown.
“We look forward to joining Atchison’s celebration of Amelia’s courageous life and seeing the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum’s stunning Lockheed Electra 10-E that is exactly like the plane Deep Sea Vision believes we have found,” Tony Romeo, founder and CEO of Deep Sea Vision, said.
The Adventure Ameila event will include a discussion with a panel of five experts in their respective fields.
The panel includes:
Tony Romeo – CEO and founder of Deep Sea Vision, a marine robotics company
Lloyd Romeo – Project Manager of Deep Sea Vision
Rod Blocksome – Nauticos Explorer and Radio Communication Expert
Gary LaPook – Navigation Consultant, The Stratus Project
Liz Smith – Dateline Theory Expert and Documentary Producer
The event will be moderated by Dorothy Cochrane, a curator of the Aeronautic Department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Karen Seaberg, founder of the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum, said that the Adventure Ameila event will be entertaining since the panelists attending have different beliefs about the decades-long questions surrounding her disappearance.
“It’s going to be fun to hear their thoughts about looking for the plane. All of these panelists have different theories of where the plane is…So since they’re competitors, it’s going to be fun to hear the back and forth with them as we ask questions,” Seaberg said.
Seaberg said some of the speakers found their way to the panel for the Adventure Amelia event through unusual means. Lloyd and Tony from Deep Sea Vision were on a news channel, and Seaberg noticed that one of them had on an Amelia shirt, which was directly from the museum in Atchison. After some communication, Lloyd and Tony later contacted Seaberg, saying they wanted to join a panel with other industry professionals.
Adventure Amelia will take place July 19 from 11 a.m. to noon. The event will be hosted in Amelia’s hometown of Atchison, KS, at the Fox Theatre Atchison and is free to the public, but registration is required.
Following the Adventure Amelia event, the museum will host ‘Deep Dive with Deep Sea Vision’ on July 20 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Benedictine College in Atchison. The event will feature Tony Romeos and his brother Lloyd Romeo, who recently explored the bottom of the ocean floor on a 90-day expedition.
Using deep-sea sonar technology, the brothers captured a plane shaped image consistent with the size of Amelia’s Lockheed Electra 10-E. During the event, the brothers will share with the audience details about their upcoming ‘confirmation expedition.’ The event will be hosted by Amelia Rose Earhart, a professional speaker, pilot, author, and artist.
“The deep dive is really the heart of the festival,” Seaberg said.
Tickets for the Deep Dive event are free with advanced registration required. Seating for the event is limited.
Seaberg said that it is important for businesses to consider sponsoring events like Adventure Ameila and the festival, which is run on donations. Seaberg added there are continued plans to promote educational
experiences including scholarships, informational presentations, and other programs.
“Theaters and museums cannot be supported on tickets only, so it’s extremely important that businesses help sponsor things like this,” Seaberg said.
The weekend-long festival, which has been going on for more than 25 years, lasts from July 18 through 20, while offering train rides on the historic Santa Fe Depot, live music, a fun run, arts and crafts, fireworks, and a performance of pilots performing stunts over the Missouri River.
Seaberg said that the fireworks at the festival will be choreographed to music, along with multiple planes doing aerobatics over the river, which is something that guests should not miss.
“Our fireworks were ranked number three in the nation as the best place to watch fireworks, which is phenomenal to be kind of in with the Navy Pier, Detroit fireworks was pretty amazing,” Seaberg said.
For registration and more information about the Adventure Ameila event visit https://ameliaearharthangarmuseum.org/event/adventure-amelia/
