NORTH ADAMS — Asher Rabquer drove his son Isaac up to the front of Harriman-and-West Airport a few times in recent years, peering through the gate separating them from the tarmac to see if they could catch any plane sightings and snap some photos.

On Thursday, the father and son got to see some aircraft up close, along with mom, Emily, and daughter, Lucy, at the airport’s recent open house under new management, Hewison Aviation.

“It was nice for the kids to get up close and learn about the different parts,” said Emily. “And get to actually be on the runway, because you often can’t get on the runway.”

Families check out an airplane on the tarmac during an open house for Hewison Aviation at the Harriman-and-West Airport in North Adams on Thursday.

To bring more attention and local aviation interest to Harriman-and-West, Hewison hosted an open house and invited the public to see the airport, its hangars, walk on the tarmac, see some planes and enter for a chance to learn flying basics.

Hewison is an Albany, N.Y.-based flight school and took over operations at Harriman-and-West in September. In April, Chief of Operations Maura Hewison said it would add a flight school location at Harriman-and-West.

The airport is also set to get a new hangar and it's still vying for a restaurant vendor.

“You will see people in the airport, classes going on, things happening on Saturdays, possibly ground school, to liven up the airport because it needs some joy brought in,” said Hewison.

Skyler Friedman, the airport’s new manager, was out on the tarmac. He started the job two weeks ago.

“This is a great means to get experience in the industry and understand the inner workings of an airport,” he said. “Super excited to be here.”

Residents got to walk around the airport municipal building, talk with Hewison, Friedman and Airport Commissioner James Haskins. They also got to see the bones of what could be a new restaurant in the municipal space, which looks out over the mountain-lined runway.

People check out an airplane on the tarmac during an open house for Hewison Aviation at the Harriman-and-West Airport in North Adams on Thursday.

“When the restaurant comes in, it will be a nice place to come and eat,” said resident Larry Jones.

Anna Plantinga and Andrew Bydlon had never been to the airport and heard about the open house when their son’s preschool notified them after taking his class there on a recent field trip.

“It’s beautiful,” Plantinga said of the mountains surrounding the runway.

Rabquer said he recreationally flies drones and was interested to see if they have any training for that — “or maybe get into flying a real plane, who knows?”