Kill Devil Hills, NC
October 8, 2003

With less than seventy days to go for the December 12-17 First Flight Centennial Celebration, individual ticket sales for the final day of the celebration, December 17, reached "sold-out status" today.

Individual one-day tickets for December 13-16 are still available for purchase at $10 per day until the 35,000-ticket limit has been reached for each of those days. Event planners have set the daily maximum capacity of the park at 35,000 attendees in order to provide the best visitor experience.

With less than seventy days to go, 137,276 tickets have been sold for the First Flight Centennial Celebration, taking place December 12-17, 2003 at Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, NC. People from all over the world are making their plans to come to the very site where the historic first manned, powered, controlled flights were made by Orville and Wilbur Wright.

"We are delighted with the enthusiastic response we've received from the thousands of people who have chosen to pay tribute in December to the genius of Wilbur and Orville Wright by joining us here at the very place where it all happened," said Lawrence A. Belli, Superintendent of the National Park Service's Outer Banks Group. "We want to stress that although the 17th has sold out, tickets are still available for the other remaining days. The National Park Service, the State of North Carolina and all of our centennial partners have created a memorable and fitting celebration in honor of these two brothers who changed the world."

Individual one-day tickets for December 13-16 are still available for purchase at $10 per day until the 35,000-ticket limit has been reached for each of those days.

Themes for the other five days include: December 12---IGNITIG THE IMAGINATION, December 13-14---REMEMBER THE PAST, IMAGINE THE FUTURE, December 15--- PROTECTING THE HOME OF THE BRAVE, and December 16---IN HISTORY'S FOOTSTEPS, CELEEBRATING 100 AVIATION PIONEERS. December 12 is a non-ticketed day.

Ticket breakout per day is: 
          Friday December 12 - non-ticketed day
          Saturday December 13 - 25,478 tickets
          Sunday, December 14 - 25,228 tickets
          Monday, December 15 - 25,295 tickets
          Tuesday, December 16 - 26,927 tickets
          Wednesday, December 17 - 35,000 tickets

The majority of tickets sold to date have been in five-day package increments, accounting for 24,726 tickets each day. Fewer buyers purchased individual day tickets. December 17 had the highest number of individual day sales with 9,622 tickets.

Senior citizens, age 62 and over, and disabled individuals may purchase a daily ticket for $5 each, while available.

Although children age 12 and under are free, they will still need a ticket to enter the park.

The ticket entitles the ticket holder to shuttle transportation between Wright Brothers National Memorial and designated remote parking sites plus access to all buildings, grounds, exhibits and performances open to the general public at the memorial during the event. Seating is not included in the price; chairs may be rented on site.

Tickets are currently available online at www.wrightbrothers.reserveworld.com or by calling 1-800-973-7327, or (301) 722-1257 for callers outside of the United States.

All of the most recent information on the First Flight Centennial Celebration can be accessed at the Centennial website on www.firstflightcentennial.org. For information on accommodations, check the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau website at www.outerbanks.org or call their toll-free number at (877) 298-4373.

Contact:

Lola Hilton
Centennial Planning Office
Tel: 252 441 6291
LolaHiltonNPS@aol.com