AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF)- “It’s very American, very patriotic, we love that, how they start with the National Anthem. It’s just all about how a lot of these aircraft and people who have fought for our country and defended us, and it’s just a great time to celebrate that,” Melanie Croft said.

It’s been more than 20 years since the last time the annual Air Show was held at Augusta Regional Airport. 

“This is a phenomenal venue too, they’re doing a great job– very efficient getting in and out of here– there’s something to be said for that because I’ve been to air shows where that is a tough job to get all these people out here efficiently,” Instructor Pilot at Sheppard Air Force Base in TX from Harlem Doug Holand said.

And with the location return, it’s brought in some new people– one couple drove to Augusta just to watch the show. 

“We love aviation, I’ve been in aviation overall my life and we love to see air shows whenever we can. We love military aviation, we love aerobatics, and it’s just a really fun time and a great way to spend an afternoon,” John Croft said.

Air show fans say the importance of these events is deeply rooted. 

“I recently got interested in planes because of my dad and my grandpa, my grandpa used to work on planes, and I got interested in planes due to playing games and stuff like that, and I saw planes flying around so I was like ‘that’s pretty cool,’” John Croft said.

James Moore says experiences like these have inspired his future career path as an engineer. 

“I find engineering stuff kind of fun– I like building things and I’m kind of creative.” 

People say being at the air show is time well spent. 

“Great to– thanks for having us out, Augusta, it’s been a lot of fun, I look forward to coming back not in 20 years. So, a lot sooner than that,” Holand said.