EAA AirVenture returns to Oshkosh, bringing $257M economic impact with it

Aviation enthusiasts from around the world are flocking to Wisconsin for the world’s largest fly-in convention next week.

The Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture event in Oshkosh runs Monday through Sunday. It features daily airshows and programming that celebrates the history of aviation.

The event has set new attendance records each year since 2022. Approximately 686,000 people attended last year, according to EAA.

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Anna Murphy-Pociask, marketing coordinator for Discover Oshkosh, the local visitors bureau, said travelers were already coming to Oshkosh this week ahead of the event.

“We’ve been seeing a lot of traffic coming in and out of our office, personally, but also just within Oshkosh,” she said. “We’ve been hearing some buzz about the downtown businesses and Oshkosh restaurants are picking up.”

A new study from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh estimates the event has an annual $257 million economic impact for the Fox Valley. The last study looking at the event’s benefits to the local economy was conducted in 2017 and found the event had a $170 million economic impact.

The new study used the same methodology but with data from 2024. It tracked $171 million of direct spending in the five counties that make up the Fox Valley region, with $95 million of that spending in Oshkosh alone. The event also created 2,092 full- and part-time jobs. More than 800 of those jobs were in Oshkosh.

A dad sits with two small boys in lawn chairs underneath umbrellas. A large silver airplane can be seen behind them. — Til Sunar of Stevens Point, Wis., sits next to his two sons as they watch airplanes take off on the runway Monday, July 24, 2023, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Oshkosh, Wis. *Angela Major/WPR*

“Those benefits ripple across nearly every local business sector during AirVenture week while the world literally comes to Oshkosh and Wisconsin,” EAA CEO Jack Pelton said in a statement.

More than 70 percent of the people who attend AirVenture come from outside the state. Last year, it drew people from 94 countries.

Murphy-Pociask said she loves welcoming visitors from around the world to Oshkosh.

“That just makes us feel so good — that this event is so impactful and that they’re having these great memories and maybe even traditions to keep coming back for this,” she said. “It means so much to us to be able to welcome them into this space.”

People walk inside of an airplane to see the inner workings. — The inside of an airplane is open for spectators to observe Monday, July 24, 2023, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Oshkosh, Wis. *Angela Major/WPR*

Lodging and camping accounted for 35 percent of the average daily spending during the event, or roughly $300 per day for each visitor, according to the study.

Murphy-Pociask said many of the city’s hotel rooms have been “booked out for a couple weeks,” calling AirVenture “their Super Bowl.”

Pelton also said the state has seen a slew of “once-in-a-lifetime” events in recent years that have helped boost Wisconsin’s profile. That includes the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and the NFL draft in Green Bay.

“EAA AirVenture is Wisconsin-born and raised, and is welcoming the world to the state every year,” Pelton stated. “The vast majority of the annual economic impact from AirVenture comes not on the event grounds itself, but in the businesses and communities within Oshkosh, the Fox Valley and Wisconsin.”