Fly Outs: Barnstormers Family Bar & Grill
Just one more reason to visit Norfolk, Nebraska
Aviation destinations
There’s a lot to see out there
Crista Videriksen Worthy has been flying around the United States with her pilot-husband Fred and their children since 1995, and writing about fun places to fly since 2006. So AOPA enlisted her aid in writing about some of her flying adventures and the result is a gold mine of aviation destinations, now published on AOPA online.
Worthy has gathered information on the top aviation museums across the country, categorizing them by region. She has written about an amazing variety of destinations—from the Oregon Coast to the Chesapeake Bay; from the aviation boneyards in Arizona to the entertainment capital of Branson, Missouri; and from California’s Morro Bay to Montana’s Great Falls.
She says her favorite places to explore are the backcountry strips of Idaho and Utah’s red rock country, but the volume of aviation trips she chronicles will astound you. Worthy lives in Idaho and serves as both the managing editor of Pilot Getaways magazine and editor of The Flyline, the monthly publication of the Idaho Aviation Association.
Up until this very moment, the most famous thing to come out of Norfolk, Nebraska, was former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson. But now there’s the Barnstormers Family Bar & Grill. OK, that is hyperbole, but there’s not much in Norfolk, which has the distinction of being the ninth largest city in the fourteenth least-populous U.S. state.
Barnstormers, located at Norfolk Regional Airport/Karl Stefan Memorial Field (OFK), is under new ownership and new management. The airport is named for Karl Stefan, a local newspaper editor and radio announcer who served several terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1935 to 1951). Established in 1940, the airport once had commercial service, so it retains its two 5,800-foot-long runways. Commercial service ended in 2004.
Located in the airport's old terminal building, Barnstormers is a perfect place to remember the golden age of aviation. The bar has airplane art and memorabilia, and a cross-section of a large biplane wing creates a self-service bar area. There’s a backdrop of pictures from the early days of the airport. Airplanes and clouds are painted on the ceiling overhead. A second dining area is centered around bikes and hot rods. This area contains many antiques and keepsakes, which add to the atmosphere. Local artist Karl Reeder painted the walls.
The menu is called a “Flight Operations Manual” and features such enticements as a Top Flight Reuben, Charlie Foxtrot Patty Melt, and a Tailhook Meatball Grinder. The massive Turbo Prop brisket sandwich was piled high with freshly smoked beef brisket and the restaurant’s signature picante queso sauce. At dinner, selections include seafood, pasta, and broasted chicken. An outdoor dining patio is available when weather permits.
The original restaurant opened with the support of 100 local investors in 2011, but it closed in 2016. With help from the Norfolk Airport Authority, the restaurant reopened in 2017 under a new set of shareholders, board of directors, and managers. The restaurant is worth the flight.
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