The U.S. Navy Blue Angels demonstration team canceled its scheduled appearance Saturday at Seattle’s Seafair.
A main attraction of the annual festival, the demonstration team’s six F/A-18 Super Hornets fly in formation and perform maneuvers over Lake Washington for the crowds watching below.
“Due to current wind conditions, today’s U.S. Navy Blue Angels performance has been canceled,” according to a statement from Seafair. “Safety remains our highest priority. We appreciate your patience and understanding, and look forward to resuming Seafair Weekend programming tomorrow.”
The National Weather Service recorded winds around 15 mph Saturday on the western shore of Lake Washington, at the weather station near Magnuson Park. Waters on the lake were choppy Saturday afternoon.
“Seafair’s air show team monitored winds throughout the day, and saw an increase in winds in the afternoon,” said Emily Cantrell, president & CEO of Seafair, in a written statement. “Five other air show acts were able to safely perform based on wind conditions earlier in the day.”
The forecast suggested winds would “increase or be sustained through the evening,” she added. “Winds exceeded the safe threshold per the Blue Angels specifications.”
Cantrell said she’s confident the Blue Angels will perform Sunday, the last day of Seafair, based on the current forecast.
A Navy spokesperson for the Blue Angels could not be immediately reached for comment.
Also on Saturday, as many as 80 protesters showed up to protest the demonstration team and to call on Seafair to stop hosting it.
The demonstrators were part of a coalition of climate activists, anti-war organizers, doctors and local residents as part of an ongoing campaign to end the flight demonstrations, according to a news release by organizers of the protest called “NO 2 BLUE ANGELS.”
“It’s time to find ways to celebrate summer, our waterways, and our region’s great and diverse cultural traditions,” according to a news release by the organizers. “No to Blue Angels! No more military air shows!”
Seafair’s hydroplane races were canceled Saturday morning, but the afternoon boat races proceeded.
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