Duluth Airshow will be back in 2018

The 2017 Duluth Air and Aviation Expo starts Saturday, highlighted by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels - and the event will be back in 2018, too, with another big name.
Airshow officials confirmed Friday that the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds will be returning to Duluth next summer. A show schedule on the Thunderbirds website lists a July 7-8, 2018, stop in Duluth.
"The return of the USAF Thunderbirds is proof that military demonstration teams enjoy the Duluth community reception and want to come back,” Jodi Grayson, one of the event’s media directors, said Friday.
An official announcement is planned for Saturday. The Thunderbirds appeared in Duluth last July for the 2016 airshow.
The Duluth Airshow traditionally has been held every other year, but the availability of the Blue Angels this month prompted organizers to stage airshows in consecutive years for the first time.
If the 2018 Duluth Airshow takes place as scheduled, it’ll be three years in a row for the event. Grayson said earlier in the week that there were benefits to not having a year off between shows.
“When you come together every two years as a team, you have to take a few months to remember everything you were doing,” Grayson said. Staging the show in back-to-back years “was good because we could just continue moving forward.”