PA Claymates' Astounding Feat @ Musikfest

The PAClay Fanclub welcomed Clay to Bethlehem for his Musikfest Concert last week in grand style:

From the CB:
Quite a buzz descended over the Musikfest crowd Wednesday night -- and it wasn't coming from the bands.

For the first time at the Bethlehem festival, an airplane dragged a 100-foot-long banner over the crowd.

From the Liederplatz to Banana Island, Musikfesters could barely make out part of the message, ''welcomes Clay Aiken to PA,'' an hour before the ''American Idol'' icon was set to take the stage.

The display stumped even the festival leaders.

''A banner flying over Musikfest?'' said festival spokeswoman Kim Plyler. ''I have no idea where that came from.''

Musikfest sponsors were just as stumped.

Turns out it was paid for by the unofficial Pennsylvania Clay Aiken Fan Club.

Aiken fan Linda Learn said dozens of members pooled their money together to rent the plane for between $750 to $900. She said the idea was initiated when Aiken played at last year's festival.

''We weren't real happy with Musikfest because they wouldn't help us get backstage,'' Learn said. ''We decided we would try to get a message to him anyway.''

But last year, many planes were booked by the Republican convention. So, the fans decided to do it this year and hired a plane from High Exposure of Ocean City, N.J.

The plane took off from Queen City Airport and flew over Musikfest for about 20 minutes.

High Exposure owner Dave Dempsey said the plane had to be 1,000 feet above the tallest building in the area. The full banner read: ''PaClay welcomes Clay Aiken to PA''
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