A flying tribute to essential workers in St. Thomas has been temporarily grounded.
St. Thomas Airfest has announced it is postponing its air parade honouring those who have been on the frontlines throughout the pandemic until May 15.
The event, dubbed ‘AirFest Salute to All Essential Workers,' that would have seen a number of aircraft take to the sky above the city was scheduled to be held on Saturday.
In light of the province-wide stay at home order that came into effect earlier this week and out of an abundance of caution for the safety of participating pilots and volunteers, the decision was made to postpone.
"While we remain confident that the ‘salute’ is a safe event for all involved, it would be a disservice to the essential workers that we are honouring if we were to proceed with the event during a stay-at-home order," organizers said in a statement. "This was not an easy decision to make, especially knowing how much our communities have had to endure since the beginning of this pandemic... We have chosen to stand with our workers, to promote safe practices while working to put on an outstanding event on the 15th of May."
The parade is intended to be viewed from the comfort of your own yard with no additional festivities being setup at the airport.
More than a dozen military planes including a Canadian Air Force CC-130H Hercules have already confirmed they will fly in the rescheduled event.
