As with any large event, there are good reasons for attending any given days. So, I’ll break this down in a few different ways.

Attending for only one day

If you love airshows, you can only attend one day, either pick Wednesday or Saturday. If you’re able to attend midweek, I’d recommend Wednesday hands-down due to the lower attendance numbers, but if that’s not an option then I’d still make Saturday my one-day choice despite the larger crowd. Every day at AirVenture features an afternoon air show. On Wednesday and Saturday there is a bonus night air show followed by a fireworks show that for many people will be the best they’ve ever seen.

The afternoon air shows feature are generally similar to each other, with the specific performer lineup being a little different each day, and they are from 2:30 to about 6:00 Monday through Saturday (the closing Sunday’s airshow is from 1:00 to 4:30). The nighttime air shows on Wednesday and Saturday are likewise generally similar to one another, and they last from roughly 8:00 to 10:00, with around 20-30 minutes of fireworks following the airshow. The fireworks end approximately 10:30. If you’ve never seen a nighttime airshow, you’re in for a treat! You’ll see planes decked out with special lights, hear planes flying with no lighting, witness special choreography, planes shooting pyrotechnics off their wings while doing aerobatics, paramotors, and more. Finally, unless you’ve been to fireworks in one of the top cities of the world such as the National Mall display in D.C, the fireworks show at EAA AirVenture will truly be on of the best you’ll ever see. Constant shells, patterns repeated multiple times down the length of the runway, choreographed to music, without lulls and including large pyrotechnic surprises, you don’t want to miss it! Stay to end for a pyrotechnic surprise that you’ll remember for years.

The remainder of the show will be approximately the same whether you choose Wednesday or Saturday. The primary difference is that Saturday is by far the busiest day of the week, making Wednesday the better choice if that’s an option for you. If Saturday is your only choice, don’t worry. AirVenture is the best organized major event that I’ve ever attended. Even with over 100,000 people in attendance on Saturday, they have dozens of people working the potential bottleneck areas such as ticket counters. You’ll be discouraged when you first see 50 people ahead of you in line to buy an entrance ticket, then encouraged when you get through said line in just a couple minutes. There’s no need to be right at the flight line for the shows, either, because the action is above you.

Note: If you don’t care about the best air show experience, like smaller crowds, and just want a “sample” of EAA AirVenture at a leisurely pace, and don’t mind missing out on the biggest highlights of the week, the closing Sunday is roughly half-price and still enough happing to be very enjoyable. It is lightly attended making for a more relaxed environment. However, many areas shut down by late afternoon.

Attending for just a few days

If attending for just a few days, I’d do my best to include either Wednesday or Saturday, for the reasons listed above. Monday through Thursday are lighter days for attendance, with Friday being a bit higher and Saturday by far the being the highest attendance. The biggest benefit of attending multiple days is the ability to see various parts of the grounds and/or spend more time visiting your favorite areas. For instance, if you love warbirds and like to look at each specimen, it’s possible to spend the entire day just in the warbirds area!

If you arrive in town early, anyone with a Monday or weekly wristband can enter the grounds for free on the preceding Sunday. Some people really enjoy hauling a lawn chair to the flightline and watch a wide variety of planes land during the day. Exhibit buildings are not open, but you can walk the grounds to discover the lay of the land and view parked planes in each of the main parking areas: warbirds, homebuilts, vintage, and ultralights.

If you’re there later in the week, as I mentioned before the closing Sunday has a more leisurely feel to it, but it still has an airshow and open exhibit buildings.

Attending for the entire week

I know this article is about which days are best to visit AirVenture, but seriously… if you’re an aviation fan and have the option, plan to attend the entire week! There is so much to explore that you can spend the full week and still not even come close to seeing everything. It took me 3 years of attending all week to feel like I actually experienced most aspects of the event. For instance, the fantastic museum could be a half a day or more all by itself for an aviation buff, but it won’t make your short list if you’re visiting for just a day. Warbirds and Vintage areas each have narrated tram tours that help you see and learn about a bunch of planes, but very few would do both trams in one day due to the logistics of getting to each of them at appropriate times. There are wonderful ultralight and hot air balloon demonstrations most evenings, but they don’t operate on nights with nighttime air shows. Theatre In The Woods has a different presentation every night that often features icons of aviation – by icons, I mean by way of example, a live interview of astronauts from the Apollo space program including Buzz Aldrin. There are so many aspects of AirVenture that take place simultaneously that you simply cannot take it all in with any time of short visit!