Kite festivals are held worldwide, featuring various kite-related activities and competitions. Popular events include the Blossom Kite Festival in Washington, DC, the Zilker Park festival in Austin, Texas, and the Dieppe International Kite Festival in Canada. Kites have a long history and are enjoyed by both children and adults as an outdoor pastime.
A kite festival is a regional or international event, usually held once a year, that features a variety of activities related to the amateur or professional enjoyment of kite flying. Several kite festivals are held each year in the United States, where the month of April has been designated National Kite Month. Popular kite festivals are also held in parts of Canada, India, Australia, Bali, China and other countries.
Sponsored by the Smithsonian Museum during its first 44 years, the District of Columbia’s Blossom Kite Festival became part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in 2010. This festival, held in April, takes place on the grounds of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC . A highlight of this event is a competition called the Hot Tricks Showdown, in which competing sport kite pilots display choreographed maneuvers to music, with winners being chosen based on the volume of cheers from spectators. This festival also includes a hexagonal-shaped Japanese-style kite battle Rokkaku, in which competing teams attempt to ground the opposing flyers’ kites. Professional- or sport-grade kites like these typically have up to four separate lines that help the pilot control a kite’s angle and position, such as when performing acrobatic maneuvers.
Some kite festivals are particularly long-lived. An annual festival at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas has been held continuously since the late 1920s. This event is typically held during the first week of March, with a rain date scheduled a week later in case the weather is daunting for kite flying. There are also food vendors and family activities.
Kite festivals can occur at different times during the year, as evidenced by the March event of Zilker Park, the annual July festival in Berkeley, California, and an event in Cleveland, Ohio that takes place every September . The San Francisco Family Day Kite Festival also takes place in September at Marina Green, a waterfront park near the Golden Gate Bridge. In this event, professional kite performance with unique and technological kite designs are offered. Several kite and kite making competitions are supervised by famous judges. A variety of exhibits also display information about the types of wind energy.
Kite festivals can be found in many international locations. A Canadian kite event, the Dieppe International Kite Festival in New Brunswick, is held every other year. In Australia, the Adelaide International Kite Festival is held every year during the month of March at Semaphore Beach. Considered the largest kite-related event in the UK, the Bristol International Kite Festival welcomes around 50,000 visitors to the grounds of the Ashton Court Estate. The Portsmouth International Kite Festival in England takes place in Southsea in August.
India’s international kite festival takes place every January in Ahmedabad, part of a religious festival that celebrates the change of seasons. Kites also have a religious connotation in Bermuda, where they are flown during the Easter holiday as a symbol of Christ’s ascent from the dead. As of 2011, Bermuda was said to hold a world record for the tallest and longest kites. Easter kites are also flown in Guyana, where it is unusual to engage in kite flying at any other time of year.
In the People’s Republic of China, a kite flying event brings crowds every April to Weifang, Shandong Province. This area is home to a kite museum which is said to be the largest in the world. An international festival in Bali at Sanur Beach features huge kites being flown by competitive teams.
Kites have been in use for many centuries, probably starting in China. In some countries, kites have historically been regarded as tools, symbols of religious beliefs, or instruments of warfare. Both children and adults in many countries today enjoy flying kites as an outdoor pastime.
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