Festival of Flight set for in person airshow

NAF EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA/KECY)  – The Naval Air Facility El Centro (NAFEC) announced today they are planning for an in person Festival of Flight on March 12.

Per the NAFEC, the Festival of Flight will be COVID compliant and gates will open at 12 p.m.

Preventative COVID measures set with local, state and federal guidelines will be in effect to ensure everyone's safety.

Some of the measures the NAFEC list are:

• Masking indoors

• Strongly recommending vaccination

• Encouraging people to wear masks on the airfield

“Single-use masks and hand sanitizer will be available to the public at the Festival of Flight,” said Alan Davis, the base’s emergency management officer.

A radio broadcast will be made available for guests who don't want to enter the facility, but are within the vicinity of the festival.

“The Second Annual Festival of Flight, was reimagined from its traditional airshow format to more prominently celebrate the relationship of the base with the Imperial Valley,” said Kristopher Haugh, public affairs officer for the base.

“In addition to the Blue Angels, which have supported us for the past 52 years, we will have other military and civilian flight demonstrations, a car show, static displays, a live band courtesy of the Navy Band Southwest’s ‘Destroyers,’ and fireworks. We will continue to tweak the execution of the event until we perfect it,” Haugh added.

Details are not finalized but guests should expect a website and an official Facebook event page that will include all of the information for the public from the NAFEC.

“We look forward to hosting our community family as we celebrate the close relationships between NAFEC and the Imperial Valley,” said Robert Roske, the base’s Command Master Chief.

The mission of NAFEC is to support the combat training and readiness of the Warfighter. Including air operations support to U.S. Navy operational fleet and training squadrons as well as squadrons from other U.S. services and U.S. allies.