The skies above Liberal were filled with the thrilling, roaring sounds of the engines that soured through the air. After 7 years Liberal’s Air Fair took flight once again, ready to take Liberal off its feet.

On Saturday, Oct. 4 Liberal became the center point of the Liberal Air Fair, an air show that took over the weekend’s events. The free event took place at the Mid-America Air Museum. Along with the air show, performances included displays of aircraft, a kids area, and several food truck vendors for audiences to enjoy.

The day started off with the gates opening up at 10 a.m. and opening of the kid area. The first show officially started at 1 p.m., with the Liberal’s airport closed as the announcements came and the tandem skydiving [skydiving with two people – a professional skydiver and a guest patron] began. After several performances that lasted until around 4:30 p.m., at 7:00 p.m,. the night show began again with another set of performances like the Aeroshell Nightshow demonstration and the fighter jets demo team. Through nightfall until 9 p.m. The Mid-Air Museum stayed open for the public a little bit after closing up officially at 9:30 p.m.

For many, the return of the show was a welcome community event.

“I just went for fun. I went with my family,” said Dr. Lizette Avalos-Morales. “I like the variety of activities to do, all of the food vendors, but then also, the air show was cool. I really like the ones that spin down or the ones that stay up, like, airborne for a few seconds, and it looks like they’re gonna fall, and then they dive. That was really cool.”

Kathelene Alonzo, a Seward County Community College student who volunteered at the event for the “Focus on the Future Committee”, also enjoyed the local sellers.

“I like the food and the drinks. They had really good vendors,” she said.

Although the show was eventful and full of performances, some events like the helicopter rides were cancelled. “The helicopter rides didn’t work out today” and “The Shockwave Jet Truck wasn’t working exactly right today,” said one of the workers at the museum, stating that “They weren’t going to do it since if it wasn’t 100% working like they wanted.”

For Juan Luzuriaga, another SCCC student and Saints tennis player who worked as a door attendant for community service, the show itself was the main attraction.

“It was pretty good,” Luzuriaga said. “I found it really nice, the planes and everything. The show was amazing…I saw one of the planes went extremely fast over my head and then he went extremely straight up and did loops. That was pretty cool.”