7/17/17 – The annual Hodag Country music festival in Rhinelander ends with a big donation for a new Honor Flight. As part of the festival’s 40th anniversary, more than 25-thousand country music fans had a chance to buy raffle tickets with the proceeds to send northern Wisconsin veterans on one day trips to Washington to see their war memorials. Country star Neal McCoy led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance as a 70-thousand-dollar check was presented to fill the plane, and name the new program the “Hodag Country Festival Memorial Honor Flight.” More than 20-thousand veterans have taken the flights since 2005 — and they’re free for veterans, thanks to donations. Wisconsin’s Honor Flight program started in 2008, and it has six other sites that offer regular trips from the Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, La Crosse, Wausau, and Superior areas.
