Despite the weather, most of the pilots set to perform made it up in the air.

ALEXANDRIA — Despite uncooperative weather conditions, Alexandria’s first air show since 2007 drew thousands of spectators.

“I am thrilled that the show got off the ground,” said Kreg Anderson, Alexandria Regional Airport manager and one of the event organizers. “We battled rain and low cloud ceiling all weekend.”

The Wings Over Alexandria Air Show took place Saturday, June 14. Anderson said there were more than 4,000 tickets registered prior to the event and from what he’s been told, the actual amount of spectators the day of the event was similar.

Anderson noted that if the show felt short, it was. Performers need a minimum of 1,000 feet cloud coverage and that didn’t really happen until shortly before 1 p.m. the day of the event.

There was one performer, who was supposed to be the opener and closer with two acts never made it due to the poor weather conditions, he said. He added that it was through no fault of the performer, but that it was the weather conditions the event had to deal with.

“The pilots (who did get to perform) were just thankful, like the rest of us, that we were able to get some performances in,” said Anderson. “They were very invested in seeing the show through to the end and all came together quickly to act once we had the required weather conditions.”

Although he doesn’t know what the future holds, Anderson said that if people enjoyed it, the event would continue again and again.

He also said that there are an incredible amount of people and organizations to thank for helping to get this event off the ground.

For everyone who contributed in some way, thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” Anderson said. “And for the public, we were blown away by your support and donations. There were definitely some shortcomings this first year, but you can only learn through experience and we hope to provide more entertainment in the skies over Alexandria in years to come!”

Below: Photos of Matt Younkin performing in his Beech C18S