This was the annual Aero aviation show.
The airport's attitude to visitors is debatable; they don't seem to like the show there. Approach is done by Swiss and they are always excellent. The tower people are weird; for example they suspend (de facto cancel) your flight plan if the ETA is not within the slot which you previously purchased. The ground staff are busy as hell and will try to make you taxi onto potentially unsuitable grass; you have to vigorously resist this and then you can usually get hard parking. Or grass parking onto which the plane can be pushed by hand, which is safe. All that said, the situation is much less manic than it used to be when the show was every 2 years. We had a nasty experience when the airside van driver decided the UK is non EU (wrong at the time) and dumped us behind a long queue of Russians having their visas checked. I think the airport has changed its procedures so there is no longer police presence at the show entrance and any non schengen people have to go through the main terminal.
The show itself is good, although after you have done a few of them you realise its best value is in meeting up with old friends. On the certified front there is very little new and most new stuff is in the "homebuilt" arena but most of the products never make production.
Saturday departures are best avoided due to a long wait.
We stayed at Hagnau, just down the road. It's an easy 30 min bus journey and a much nicer place to stay than the town. You are on the lakeshore and can have lovely trips to e.g. Meersburg.
