The kite community has been in a long but steady decline since the 80s and 90s. I have been thinking about why for a while, and what we could do about it. I went to the Washington State International Kite Festival last week (see #HappyKiteDay for more pictures) and talked and asked a lot of attendees there, but that is a biased and older audience that is very dedicated to doing things the same way they have always done. Today, I want to know what you think, particularly people who don't fly.

#HappyKiteDay from a somber Sunday at the Washington State International Kite Festival. The festival is over, it ended at about 1:30pm. The sky was overcast, winds started at 6mph, but eventually worked its way up to 12. The first event of the day was the Memorial fly for kiters who passed away this last year. Then we held a Soft Kite Mass Ascension for half an hour and transitioned to sport kite 4 and 2 line demos till the end. I can not recommend Carl Robertshaw's Fulcrum demo more, wow!

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Second page, just to add more kite pictures.

Be sure and check the Alt-Text for more details.

Follow and boost #ThursdayIsKiteDay and #HappyKiteDay. In dark times, share the joy! Also, your kite pictures and thoughts. Happiness is better shared.

#Kites (not the birds)
#HappyKiteDay from Saturday at the Washington State International Kite Festival. Today we had the Parade of Colors (banners), the Cody Fly (Cody war kites), and the Flat and Bowed Kites Mass Ascension, as well as numerous sport flier ballet in both 2 and 4 line kites and pairs or teams. The wind has been light to medium, rarely exceeding 7mph. Temperatures are in the 70s, overcast sky, horizon to horizon, but it makes a nice break from the past several days.

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#Kites
#HappyKiteDay
Live blogging from Friday at the Washington State International Kite Festival. No theme today, the events are very mixed as this is the second busiest day, after Saturday (Sunday is a half day). We have already had the Delta Mass Ascension and the Cellular (box kite) Mass Ascension. They are currently doing Sport Kite Mystery Ballet, with two and four line fliers flying to a song they haven't practised to before. Wind has been heavy all day at 10 to 16 mph. Sunny, nice.

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#HappyKiteDay from the Washington State International Kite Festival where I have been live blogging all week. Thursday here is Hand Crafted day, so all the kites out here on field A, and all the pictures you will see in this thread are kites and banners being flown by the original artist.

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#Kites
Supplemental pictures from Wednesday. My alt-text includes extra details.

Be sure and follow #ThursdayIsKiteDay for weekly posts on the world of kiting, and #HappyKiteDay for random day kite pictures. Share the joy! Share your pictures! 3 months of timeless content waiting for you now! I'm live blogging here this week from the 7 day Washington State International Kite Festival. The theme of tomorrow is hand crafted kites.

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Greetings and #HappyKiteDay from the Washington State International Kite Festival. Wednesday is Kids Day, but is also Paint me Patriotic day. So we've got red, white, and blue ground displays and the first 200 kids got given a free, artist made, applique, fringe delta. I think they actual gave away about 150 kites, shortage of kids, but they were also invited out to field A for a kids' Mass Ascension & afterwards there were several games & ribbons given out. Foggy, misty, light wind.

#Kites. (Not the birds)
#HappyKiteDay from Terrific Tuesday at the Washington State International Kite Festival. Today's activities have been various. Tuesday has been PunDay, Camp and Ground Display judging, cumulative Team judging, we just had the single line fighter kite demo/class, and individual rokkaku fighting is up next with team rok battles at 3pm. Wind has been heavy with 12-18 mph winds all morning as storm clouds move through, although no rain at the beach so far. Partly sunny.

A few more pictures because I can't help myself.

#HappyKiteDay #Kites

#kites
#HappyKiteDay people of Mastodon, from the Washington State International Kite Festival. Monday is kite trains and arches day. In another half hour there is going to be a world record attempt for the number of 4 line Rev style kites flown in stacks (kites per person x people flying). This morning was light wind (4-6mph) and sunny, this afternoon is moderate wind, 8-12mph and continued sun. No smoky air on the WA coast. Temp. 65°F in the shade.

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...that site, and their website is particularly good this year.

More about my experience next week.

#HappyKiteDay #Kites

6/6
...of makers in the Pacific Northwest have a kite arch, which is good because they look particularly well when flown together.

#HappyKiteDay #Kites

8/8
...sale after having sat in the shop for more than a year. In the mean time here are two nice pictures of very taut, artisan made, one of a kind, Pearson Rollers.

#HappyKiteDay #Kites

6/6
...forgotten can reappear to influence newer kites. If you wanted a stopping point, I would say that the Astro Star Kite, which is all wing and no box, and the spars don't even go through the center but circle the outside, is one extreme of this design trend. Enjoy, but I don't have the final answer. What I am sure of is that you can see the general design trend that lead to Star and Tumble Boxes and why they are still classed as box kites.

#HappyKiteDay

...specifically designed to turn on a dime and have no directional stability. If you find that you are in or near an environment where this is possible you could add a small sea anchor and a mesh bag to keep everything in. Just because it is niche does not mean it is not fun to try things out. Remember, except in the dictionary, experimentation comes before discovery.

#HappyKiteDay

8/8
...color. It goes for around $180 now, if you can find it. It is not my best soaring kite, it flies at a 45-50° line angle, which is low. The ratio of spar weight to wing is high, there is a lot of wing that is just not there. But this means that it doesn't pull hard under any wind conditions it will fly in. It is a little complicated to setup, not a child's kite, but a good looking, low pull kite that flies in high or low winds, what is not to love?

#HappyKiteDay

@Homoevolutis0
#ThursdayIsKiteDay is where I review a specific kite, or kite form with some history, or explain a kite concept, every week. I do it because I have a large collection that I enjoy flying, but kiting as a sport has dropped off and people forget how much fun it would be to fly a kite when they haven't seen one in a while. I hope #HappyKiteDay will be a place people can post any related pictures, any day of the week.

We've got to keep remembering how wonderful it is to be alive.

@lePetomaneAncien
...mechanical line climber, and annually they do a teddy bear drop at the Washington State International Kite Festival in Long Beach but I don't know the mechanism, and twice I have seen highschool level electrical experiments - both in power generation.

May all your days be #HappyKiteDay (s) for being an innovator.

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...hurt someone if the kite comes down, they fly best in large sizes, and they have much less lift than other similar sized kites, which makes them more manageable.

If you are going to be in Oregon this month, the Lincoln City Summer Kite festival will be held June 24th and 25th. They could use more chaos, they have been more like a kite show than a festival lately, so bring kites or buy one and fly on any sand outside the roped off areas.

#HappyKiteDay