Winds Whisk Kite-Fliers Into Sports Complex

A surprising number of people showed up for Kite Festival 1997 at the South Hill Sports Complex on Sunday, lured by strong winds and undeterred by steady rain.

Three-year-old Trevor Mitchem celebrated his special award by telling his dad, Shawn, “I wanna go home now.”

About 100 people came and went from the afternoon festival, as did the rain.

In addition to the classic, single-line kites that simply ride with the wind, the gray sky was filled with double-line kites, also called stunt kites, which are maneuvered by manipulating each line.

Competitors and hobby fliers showed off, making the kites swerve back and forth, circle and dive.

In the double-line competition, Mason McCuddin from the South Hill won the adult division, and Chad Smith aced both the freestyle and precision contests in the 12-and-under division.

Chad explained precision: “You yell ‘in’ and you yell ‘out’ when you’re done, but you only do ‘em once. You do a square, a jump and a figure eight.”

Chad’s grandfather, Bill Cox, was impressed with the younger set.

“A lot of them are flying $10 Costco or Kmart kites, and they did pretty good,” he said.

Three generations of the Chabot family were noted.

Matt Chabot won for most colorful kite, 3-year-old Matt Jr. had the second-smallest kite (“He didn’t really fly it; he sort of chased it,” his mom said), and grandfather G.M. Chabot won for having the most unique kite.

Jim Thompson drove in from Moses Lake for the festival, and when he raised his Spectra 8-footer, it caught the wind so completely the two lines dragged him half the length of the field. After that, he went to his 6-footer.

When expert kitesman Mark Conrad sailed his Hawk 8-footer just a few feet off the ground and within a few yards of a camouflage-clad man, no one blinked. Conrad then manipulated his kite immediately into a 180, followed by endless spins and reversals. He put the kite down away from all the spectators.

Ten-year-old Taylor Dorn flew a conventional diamond-shaped kite.

“I can do 10 loops at once,” he insisted, “as soon as I get some more wind.”

At the other extreme was Rick Newman, who flew a more expensive quad-line kite. Despite being a veteran kitesman, Newman said, “It took me about five hours to learn how to make it fly. It’s a different game.”

Some of the acrobatics look impossible to the novice, unless you’re Brian Walters, only 11 years old and flying his black-and-white bat-shaped kite for all of three days.

“I read the directions and got it up there,” he said.

The festival was co-sponsored by the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department and the Lilac City Wind Chasers, assisted by Spokane Youth Sports.

The Wind Chasers meet Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. at Friendship Park on Standard, north of Francis.