Life’s A Breeze Snowflake Kite Fly Becomes A Growing Tradition On New Year’s Day
A stiff wind is about the last thing most people want on a day with temperatures in the 30s.
But on Monday, members of the Lilac City Windchasers kite club were hoping for a breeze to sweep across frozen Franklin Park.
“Blow, you rotten sucker!” said Becky Cage, as she watched from under “five layers of clothes” as her 14-foot-wide kite sank slowly toward the snow-covered turf.
“The weatherman kept saying calm, calm and cold. Not exactly what we wanted to hear,” Cage said.
Still, most of the dozen or so members of the club got their multicolored toys airborne for the fourth annual Snowflake Kite Fly, an event that’s becoming a New Year’s Day tradition in Spokane.
The Windchasers patterned the Snowflake after a similar event held in Seattle each year, said Cage, who along with her husband, Ken, runs a kite shop called Colors on the Wind on Wellesley.
The Seattle group started its event to encourage people to abandon the televised football games and get outside.
The Windchasers thought that sounded like a good idea, Cage said.
Once the kites were flying Monday, it was a lovely sight.
Ultra-light stunt kites sliced through the air, doing loop-the-loops, then diving, etching lines in the crusty snow before soaring into the low sun.
Neon cruisers wafted on the slight breeze, their tails lolling gently below them.
Train kites - actually hundreds of small kites attached to the same line - climbed into the sky and wiggled, like a snake gliding through the grass.
Of course, when the wind stopped, it was trouble.
Chuck Moffitt watched helplessly as his kite and its 100-foot-long tails crashed into a tree during a lull.
The tails snarled into a tangle that took Moffitt the better part of a half hour to straighten out.
“Charlie Brown isn’t the only one this kind of thing happens to,” he said with a chuckle.
But he didn’t seem to mind.
“I’ve seen a lot worse,” said Moffitt, who’s been flying kites for most of his 49 years.
The event lasted from noon to 3 p.m., and Becky Cage said most of the kite fliers would stay for the duration, “or at least until our fingers freeze off.”
Chris Panas and his 8-year-old twin sons didn’t last nearly that long.
Just after noon, Panas, along with George and Ben, were packing it in.
“The kites aren’t flying, and we’ve got cold toes,” said the elder Panas, motioning to his sons. “But we thought we’d give it a try.
“There are worse ways to waste away the first day of the year.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo