Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach State Park canceled Saturday due to inclement weather
The Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach State Park was canceled Saturday, as it would be too dangerous for pilots to attempt breathtaking stunts in such heavy rain, high winds and poor visibility.
"It's unsafe," said George Gorman, Long Island regional director, Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The mix of all those conditions "meant no performer could actually go off today."
Whether Sunday's show — the second and last day of the Memorial Day weekend event in Wantagh — will suffer the same fate has yet to be determined.
"We are hopeful for tomorrow; unfortunately, the weather (forecast) looks not the greatest," Gorman told Newsday in a video interview. "It's kind of disappointing," added Gorman, who founded the show in 2004.
However, a livestream option was planned, and Friday's rehearsal — along with interviews with pilots — are being aired Saturday on WABC-TV, and on WABC’s Connected TV apps on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku.
"It's going be somewhat live with the performers talking in the studio, more or less, and then they are going to see the taped version from yesterday, so it's really going to be very cool," Gorman said.
While last year's show was canceled due to the pandemic, bad weather has only done so twice: in 2013 and 2018. "Even if we have to cancel tomorrow, four times since 2004, it really is a good record," Gorman said.
Friday's rehearsal, he said, drew 46,000 fans — attendance was cut to 50% to avoid spreading the virus — though "It was a little bit brutal, with the cold and wind coming off the ocean."
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
