The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels perform at Thunder Over Louisville, Saturday afternoon, April 12, 2014. The aerobatic squadron comprised of F/A-18 Hornets and their pilots cancelled their Evansville performance in 2013 due to the budget sequestration, but announced they would be back in Evansville to perform in 2015 at Shrinersfest.
A source close to the event says Hadi Shriners will announce this morning Vectren will pay for the Blue Angels to perform in Evansville next summer as part of ShrinersFest.
The announcement will come a week after the Shriners said that there would be no air show at next summer’s ShrinersFest.
The official announcement is planned for 11 a.m. at the Hadi Shrine in Downtown Evansville.
When Dale Thomas, a spokesman for the Shriners, announced the cancellation plans last week, the reason he primarily cited was the cost of the air show. Thomas specifically said that corporate sponsorship money of the event had dwindled in recent years. The organization had hoped to bring the Blue Angels back to Evansville for the 2015 festival, which is scheduled to take place from June 25 to 28.
Thomas told the Courier & Press last week that the group had tried to reach out to city officials and other funding sources before informing the public of their plans to cancel the air show.
“Maybe there’s a white knight out there that we’re not aware of that is willing to step up and say “We’re willing to bring this to Evansville," Thomas said after revealing the cancelation last week.”
Following the successful re-enactment of D-Day during the 2014 event, Thomas said a military re-enactment would again be part of next year’s event, but he added that no specifics had been finalized.
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