Some airshows in 2021 have been canceled. Others have been scaled back. In Chicago, the annual lakefront Air & Water show there in August was “re-imagined”—in the words of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office—meaning that every act except the Navy’s Blue Angels was eliminated. Nevertheless, healthy crowds headed to the city’s beaches to view the military jet team. While, near shore, a thick line of pleasure boats gathered from the notorious “Play Pen” area off Oak Street Beach all the way north to Belmont Harbor, some 3.6 miles away.
But Chicago’s reticence—the city had originally planned to scrap its 2021 airshow altogether—is proving the exception to the rule. After a dismal 2020 brought on by Covid-19 cancellations, airshows are back and in full vigor. Post-pandemic airshows are recording some of their best attendance records in years, according to John Cudahy, executive director of the International Council of Air Shows.
