Despite reports that suggest Fleet Week events across the country will be cancelled due to sequestration cuts, the show will go on in San Diego -- at least for the most part.
Alexandra Squires, executive director of the San Diego Fleet Week Foundation, told NBC 7 on Friday that those reports are “wild innuendo and Fleet Week is happening in San Diego.”
“We are absolutely happening in September. There is most definitely a Fleet Week in San Diego. We are America’s Finest City; we have the largest concentration of military in the world and there’s no way that we would not have a Fleet Week here in our community,” Squires added.
She does concede, however, that there will be some cutbacks.
She says this year there will not be any Ship Tours. She said last year, tours were given on ships at Naval Base San Diego – the first time the base was open to the public since the 9/11 attacks. Tours were also given on ships at NAS North Island during the Coronado Speed Festival.
Squires also says money is being raised in an effort to avoid cancellation of the annual golf tournament at Admiral Baker Field.
Squires says Fleet Week San Diego will kick off on Sep. 18 with the MAC Breakfast. The enlisted Recognition Leadership awards at Sea World will follow on Sep. 19, and the Coronado Speed Festival will take place on Sep. 21-22. A date for the annual Fleet Week football game had yet to be determined.
