Jones Beach Memorial Day drone show set to take flight tonight

The Jones Beach Memorial Day drone show is getting set to light up the night sky Monday after it was postponed due to dreary weather over the weekend. 

The show with 1,000 drones is replacing the annual air show, which was moved to Fourth of July weekend this year to celebrate the United States' 250th anniversary.

New York State Parks officials said primary viewing will be at the Central Mall. Officials recommend parking in fields four and five. Parking is free. 

The 20-minute show is scheduled to start at 9 p.m.

Drone show preps

The team behind the first-ever Memorial Day drone show at Jones Beach spent Monday setting up after production was postponed Sunday due to weather.

Grizzly Entertainment CEO Themis Violaris said the show will go on, putting patriotism on full display. 

"It starts with the 250 years of the U.S., and there's a lot of other animations that you're going to have some good time to watch," said Themis Violaris, CEO of Grizzly Entertainment. "I'm going to leave the people to come and enjoy, a little bit of surprise."

The drones are capable of displaying 1.8 million colors, Violaris said.   

"It's gonna feature patriotic animations, like the bald eagle, George Washington, the American flag, things like that. So it's going to be a great show," said Jessica Anderson-Ruiz, director of recreation services for the Long Island region. "It's a salute to our veterans in remembrance of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice." 

"I think it's so amazing what they can do with technology today," said Emily Monem, of Amityville. "It's awesome." 

Smaller beach crowd this year

Normally, Jones Beach and the boardwalk would've been packed all day for the unofficial start of summer, but the forecast had other plans.

Despite the dreary sky overhead, the American flag was still raised in the morning as a reminder of what Memorial Day stands for. 

"Respect for those who fought for us, to have what we love and we care about," said lifeguard Matt Devens, who's been working at Jones Beach for more than 20 years.

Beachgoers said they were happy it stopped raining so they could look forward to watching the drone show. 

"It doesn't often happen you get two, two and a half days of a washout like this, especially when you're planning a beautiful big event like this," said Devens.