Events for the third annual Idaho Kite Festival are a great mix of old and new! If you have made Japanese, Philippine, Malay, classic, and recycled materials kites with IKF, flown them in the Veterans Memorial Fly, created a cancer survivor kite, teamed up with your big brother, dad or grandma to build your own kite - those opportunities are back, and they are free!
If you have seen Todd Copeland of Utah Kitefliers fly a quad kite indoors and out, you can experience that again. Indoor kiting is particularly hypnotic and magical - don't miss this demonstration and try your hand at it. When the wind does not cooperate outside, Todd will show that he doesn't need wind to fly. Most scheduled events we caution WIND PERMITTING - indoor kiters don't need the wind! RJ Trentham of Boise will team up with UTF for a show you will remember!
If you saw national champion fighter kiter Jay Maas and his teammates Roy and Renee create glints of light high in the sky with their fighter kites, and engage in fighter battles - they are back again this Festival. See fighter kite building on the schedule, and make your own sleek unique fighter.
New to this Festival are teddy bear drops. Daring teddy bears and other intrepid animals will parachute from a kite line, seeking adoption on the ground below.
New also will be a kite train or stack contest. If you haven't seen multiple kites attached together and flying as one, don't miss this. Last year we flew 40-kite trains and I know (yeah, wind permitting) we can fly more in 2009!
The new kite design for this Festival is the Japanese rokkaku fighter kite. Build a kite and learn fighting skills - participate every year in the rokkaku battles.
So join in - all this and more! Idaho will hold inservice training this entire weekend, so all the kids need productive, healthy activities. Make Idaho Kite Festival 2009 YOUR choice. Events are so numerous they start Sept 25 at 5 pm with the Veterans of Foreign Wars kitemaking workshops - everyone is invited to build and fly a kite! From there, it just gets better and better - new events posted regularly.
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Get ready to Fly!
Let's celebrate April, National Kite Month, by building and flying kites all over Pocatello and Idaho, and beyond! Many, many opportunities to build yourself a kite for the third annual Idaho Kite Festival during inservice training weekend in Idaho schools the first weekend in October.
And every Sunday afternoon, if there is a breeze we'll put kites in the sky, so if you see a kiter in a park near you, stop and join in!
Watch for additions - they are being scheduled almost daily! Make a kite, fly a kite, volunteer with The Sky's The Limit! community volunteers to bring these workshops to your area!
October 1-3, 2009 - Festival!
Oct 1 - 3
Noon to 5 PM: church park beside Portneuf Library or church gym
Teddy bear jump, fighter battle, demonstrations, rokkaku battles, quad kite flying demonstration, indoor kiting, VFW memorial fly, prize flies, train competition and more.
Oct 1
10 AM: Kids kitebuilding at Portneuf Library - pink up the sky
5 PM: Rokkaku building at Portneuf Library - adult workshop
Oct 2
10AM: Kids kitebuilding at Marshall Library - a train of kites!
6 PM: Fighter kitebuilding at Portneuf Library - adult workshop
Be there! It's our third annual Festival, and third time is a charm!
April 3: Marshall Library, 4 pm, kitemaking, Pocatello
April 13: Portneuf Library, 4 pm, kitemaking for Earth Day, Chubbuck
April 18: Hayden ID Kite Festival
April 19: Kiting around at EW Race for the Cure, Spokane WA
April 23-25: Kiting Just For Fun, Idaho Falls
May 20: Kites to commemorate Pocatello AARP chapter's 45th anniversary
June 6: Kitemaking table at Japan village at Global Village and Festival, Ontario OR
July
31: Staff Training for Fruitland ID Library - workshop for staff to
learn kite building and flying, to hold future family workshops at the
library and at community events
Aug 1: Kitemaking workshop at Four Rivers Cultural Center, Ontario OR - Rokkaku building at JACL Bidistrict meeting of IDC and PNW, hosted by Boise Valley JACL
Aug 3-4: Volunteers serve lunch at SE ID Senior Games - kites donated for decoration
Aug 6: Diabetes group Activity Day - Kite kits donated
Aug 19: AARP local chapter annual picnic - kites for door prizes
Sept 25: Veterans of Foreign Wars kitemaking with the community
