Hundreds of people were at South Padre Island on Sunday to experience the Roar by the Shore Air and Space Expo.

"One of our main missions was to bring an air show down here to the Valley that's never been done in this scale," said event coordinator and airshow director Miguel Sandoval. 

Alfonso Garcia served four years in the Marine Corps. Garcia said he normally makes the trip to Corpus Christi to see air shows.

"This is pure joy to have an airshow here so close to home," Garcia said. 

Garcia's love of modern-day aircraft brought him out on Sunday.

"They had the Confederate Air Show in Harlingen. And I just, from then on, I fell in love with all these aircraft. Old, new, but the modern aircraft. It's amazing what they can do nowadays," Garcia said.

"There's so much stuff that's going on in this area and South Texas, so it's really important for America and the future of our country in terms of what we're doing in development and space," said Joshua Gunderson, F22 Raptor Demonstration Commander and Pilot. "It's absolutely incredible."

One of the goals of the expo was to help raise money for local nonprofit organizations across the Valley, including veteran-based groups that help pay for the future of veterans.

"They contribute towards military-dependent students and they help pay for their college and tuition and I think that's really awesome," Sandoval said. 

Show organizers also wanted to help recruit into the military.

"Learn to be an engineer, learn to become a pilot, learn to be a mechanic, something that's a good career choice," said David Schultz, airshow operations director. "We need them desperately in this country."

And while the expo is over in the Valley for now, they hope to bring it back next year.