ST. LOUIS – Crowds at Celebrate St. Louis were glad to see the morning storms clear out before the big air show down at the Arch Grounds on Thursday.

Tourists and locals from across the region spent the afternoon at the air show hoping to see something special.

“Everybody stops, everybody oohs and aahs. It’s amazing. Their air show is just amazing,” Katie Effan said. “It can almost make you cry. It gets in your chest. Very patriotic.”

People in the crowd all had a favorite part they were looking forward to watching.

“I always think it’s really cool when the soldiers jump out of the planes. That’s always fun to watch,” Navah Effan said.

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“I’m looking forward to the colors. When they shoot the planes or whatever it is out of the back of the planes. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most,” Joe Starrr said.

Year after year, families said it is the air show that keeps bringing them back to the Mississippi River for Celebrate St. Louis.

Families down at the Gateway Arch on Thursday said there is no better way to celebrate America’s birthday than by watching pilots dive through the air while doing twists and turns.

“It’s amazing. I’m proud to be an American. Those other countries, they don’t have this,” Starrr said. “They don’t have air shows. They don’t have Fourth of July. They don’t got nothing like we’ve got in America. That’s why I’m proud to be an American.”

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