California Capital Airshow Canceled Due to Pandemic, will Take Flight Next Year

The Sacramento region’s annual airshow has officially been canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, organizers announced Friday.

The California Capital Airshow, which would have brought dozens of rare planes and thousands of guests to Mather Airport in Rancho Cordova on Oct. 3-4, has instead been grounded for the first time in 15 years, the show’s board of directors said in a statement.

“We explored numerous options with our partners to provide a highly modified and socially distant event that would also work within established COVID-19 public health parameters,” the statement said, in part. Those partners include Sacramento County and the city of Rancho Cordova.

“Unfortunately, we are not fully confident we can minimize the coronavirus risk to a level that meets our standards for health and safety. Please know we did not want to let you down – but ultimately, it is the right call for the safety of everyone.”

Next year’s edition of the airshow is now set for Sept. 25-26, 2021, and will feature U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds as its headliner. The Snowbirds, of the Royal Canadian Air Force, were supposed to be the main attraction for the 2020 show.

The California Capital Airshow routinely draws tens of thousands to Mather Airport, with ground exhibits available on its runways for those who pay admission while its aerial displays can be seen and heard throughout the region.

Last year, the headlining Blue Angels took their U.S. Navy F-18 planes for a surprise fly-by at the Tower Bridge a week before the airshow, startling many who’d gathered for the annual Farm-to-Fork Festival in Sacramento.

The airshow is the Sacramento area’s latest popular event lost in 2020 to the COVID-19 pandemic, which since March has forced sweeping cancellations of events at both indoor and outdoor venues. Because of the highly contagious nature of the virus, events drawing large crowds are expected to be among the last gatherings allowed to resume.

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