Kite Festival

One of the things I really appreciate is our area's sense of community. That's something you don't always get in bigger cities. Since we moved here we quickly noticed that there's always some sort of festival or activity that's being promoted. Driving through town you get to see banners stretched across the roads promoting something fun to look forward to: Cranberry Festival, Railroad Days, etc. 

This past week has been the Kite Festival. I really looked forward to this because when we first moved here we heard so much about it, however, we missed it by a couple weeks. In short- I was impressed by it. 

Kites are extremely easy to fly here. The wind is constantly blowing, especially further up the peninsula where there's no mountains obstructing it's flow. Plus, add the fact that our peninsula is known as the world's longest beach (Technically it is but also...not.) which gives one plenty of space to fly a kite. There's also a few designated kite stores and even a kite museum. It's pretty serious. 

Via

An aerial view. Note the rare sunny day.

Via

D and I wandered over to the festival to check it out with our friends, E and M. The boys body surfed for a little bit while E and I sat in the warm sand to watch some synchronized kite flying. We had no idea that this was a serious hobby! There were people who came into town from England and even Canada. 

Upon arrival we found out that a group of kite enthusiasts were attempting a new world record for most synchronized kites. It was truly amazing to watch them! They set a new record using 64 (or 65?) kites. 

 Getting into "grid" formation.

Creating a circle.

I shot this video with my phone of the kites getting into a circle formation, exploding from the circle, coming back into a circle and then back to a grid formation. This was right after they set the new world record. (I can't figure out why there's no sound.) There were also small teams of three to five people who did synchronized kite flying set to music. Truly a fun day!