Blue Angels To Return For 2014 San Francisco Fleet Week
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - The Blue Angels air show is set to return to San Francisco next year as part of the city's annual Fleet Week celebration, U.S. Navy officials announced.
The Navy's precision flight demonstration team will be performing over the Bay on Oct. 11 and 12, 2014. The Blue Angels had to cancel all of their 2013 shows because of the federal sequestration cuts.
The San Francisco visit is part of a series of 65 shows the team will perform at 34 locations around the country in 2014.
Blue Angels spokeswoman Lt. Katie Kelly said the team received feedback from throughout the U.S. after this year's shows were canceled.
"Everyone has missed the team and is excited to have the Blue Angels back out there," Kelly said.
She said the decision to fund the air shows for 2014 came from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Kelly said the visit to San Francisco is "a team favorite" and "a very unique show."
"We get to interact with a lot of San Franciscans out there," she said.
The shows are meant, in part, to drum up support for the Navy and pique the interest of future generations of military members.
San Francisco's Fleet Week typically features the air show, a Navy Parade of Ships, and disaster drills by local, state and federal first responders.
With the air show canceled this year because of the budget cuts, owners of waterfront shops and restaurants expressed disappointment that the crowds they depend on for business during Fleet Week didn't show up.
More information about the Blue Angels can be found at www.blueangels.navy.mil.
(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
