Hundreds gathered at the St. Pete Pier on Sunday for what was expected to be an epic drone show finale to 727 Day. After hours of anticipation, the event was abruptly canceled. Instead of a dazzling drone-filled finale, fans were left with an empty sky to celebrate the pier's fifth anniversary. “What I would love moving forward is better communication,” Melissa Davis, who lives in St. Pete, said. Davis said she waited for the thunderstorm to pass before heading to the show. Spectators were promised aerial animations telling the story of St. Pete. “We had multiple people with us who had never seen a drone show, myself included. There were children and it was past people's bed times,” Davis said. She said the DJ made several announcements. Then, many people gave up. “We eventually just packed up and went home,” Davis said. She didn't find out it was canceled until she got home and saw a post on the city of St. Pete's Facebook page, where plenty of others were sharing their frustration. Sky Elements Drone Shows said their gear was covered, but flooding caused by the storm at the launch site kept them from putting on the show. “Technically, it was a free event, but as we know you have to pay for parking, our time is not free, our energy is not free, a lot of people came out and spent a lot of money on food on the activities that are here at the pier and even just around town,” Davis said. But some did pay. It was $25 for the prime viewing area of the drone show. St. Pete Pier's website said all ticket sales are final and cannot be exchanged or refunded. The city said it plans to reschedule the drone show and will share the new date once it's set. “Oh, that's tough in terms of rescheduling because it was for such a specific event,” Davis said. 10 Tampa Bay News reached out to the city, asking how much all of this cost and how it was funded. We have not heard back yet, but according to the city's fiscal year budget for this year, $425,000 in grants and aid was included for the pier's 5th anniversary celebration.