Post 16 - Blossom Kite Festival 2018
4-minute read, including photo captions at bottom
Since the Blossom Kite Festival usually kicks off the month-long Cherry Blossom Festival, I’m adding this post as a quick supplement to last Saturday’s Cherry Blossom post. There will only be a few photos, and a short video, within this post - most of the images will be in the Gallery, without commentary. These images and video were taken the week before those from last Saturday’s post (Post 15), on March 31st, 2018.
The Kite Festival was first launched in 1967 by Paul Garber, the first curator of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The Smithsonian organized and sponsored the event, so it was called the Smithsonian Kite Festival until 2011, when the National Cherry Blossom Festival, Inc. began producing the event. At that point, it was renamed the Blossom Kite Festival.
We lucked out two weekends in a row in terms of weather. The day of the Kite Festival was perfect for its purpose - bright, sunny, warm, with a steady breeze that was just right for kite-flying. I’m bad at estimating crowd sizes, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a half-million people on the DC Mall at its peak. It was quite a feast for the eyes seeing thousands of kites dancing and diving through the skies. There were also some competitions and demonstrations of “kitemanship” (if that’s even a word). The exhibitions included some of the largest kites I’d ever seen - in all sorts of shapes, both realistic and fantastical. There was also some next-level talent and skill on display, with people performing acrobatic stunts that I wasn’t aware that kites were even capable of.
There were several groups and clubs competing for various prizes that day.
Not sure what “category” of kite this came under, but it was big and frilly!
Personal style was one element on which competitors were judged
Speed and acrobatic accuracy were other judgement parameters - some of the kites were so fast and agile, it was hard to follow them with the naked eye, let alone with a camera….
One competitor very precisely landed is his kite for a few seconds on the judges’ table in the middle of an acrobatic event - I’ve never seen anything like it, didn’t even know that was possible! It sat there perfectly still for a few heartbeats until a deft flip of the wrist got it airborne again - without knocking over a single water bottle on the table!
If I heard the announcer correctly, this amazing kite was an actual-size depiction of a baby blue whale (I could be wrong on that, so don’t quote me)
Once it was fully “inflated”, the “Baby Blue” certainly looked like it might have been life-sized
Other exhibition kites were more along the lines of fantasy-creatures, although this one does sort of resemble a manta ray
This dragon presented quite a challenge to fill with air and get aloft - they ended up using the manta ray to help get it off the ground by tying the two together
Once both kites caught full “bellies” of wind, it took several people to control them
After a while, the pull from the manta ray and dragon got so strong that the guy with the main guide rope had to resort to wrapping it around his elbow
This kite looks like it may have been made out of parachute or parasail materials
So intent on the flight of her kite, this girl’s face - and her glasses - reflect the hopes and aspirations of all the kite-wranglers running with urgent, raised arms across the lawns of the Mall on this day.
Of course, it was inevitable - that Charlie Brown moment when you have no choice but to abandon your kite to the highest branches of that tree that just jumped out of nowhere to grab your bright, beautiful toy….
It was an amazing day that inspired this quick Photoshop composite
Here is a short video to give you an idea of some of the exhibitions and competitions at the Kite Festival:
Most of the photos for this post are shown in the Gallery - don’t forget to check that out. Enjoy!
As always, thanks for reading my blog post!
Next Saturday we head to Baltimore for some “light entertainment” - see you there!
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