Chicago Air & Water Show
Annual air show
The Chicago Air & Water Show is an annual air show held since 1959 on the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago. The largest free show of its kind in the United States, The 2025 show was held on August 16–17 with a full rehearsal on August 15.
The air show is a free event showcasing daredevil pilots, parachute teams, and formation jet flyers, as well as water-skiing and boat-jumping demonstrations. With its proximity to city beaches and skyline, the show is visible from almost anywhere along the Chicago lakefront. The show features both civilian and military pilots, and flight teams have been sponsored by companies including Oracle and Red Bull. The U.S. Army Golden Knights have participated frequently, and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds alternate annually as headliners.
History
The show was first held in 1959 as the Lakeshore Park Air & Water Show, on a budget of $88. It featured a Coast Guard Air Sea Rescue demonstration, water skiers, a water ballet, games and a diving competition. The following year, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and Golden Knights Parachute Team were added.
Since 1989, the introduction of corporate sponsorships created by Mickey Markoff's marketing efforts has underwritten the show's production costs.
“Chicago Air & Water Show” enters the record as annual air show. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Chicago, Water and Show can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chicago Air & Water Show” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.