Published: June 29, 2009 02:40 pm      

KiteFest provides free entertainment

EDMOND — Leah Redling laughed with her family at the 19th annual LibertyFest KiteFest Saturday as she climbed a tree at Mitch Park to free a stuck kite.

Redling, a Nebraska resident, brought her three children to town for the week to visit her sister, Edmondite Erin Trigg, who also is a mother of three.

“I was looking for free things to do with six kids,” Redling said. “I looked on the Internet and this popped up. We’re just having fun.”

Riley, 9, held onto the family kite while his mother climbed the tree.

“I think it’s fun to watch the kite go soaring in the sky,” he said. “I like to see it float.”

Free entertainment seemed to be a theme among young families this year.

Edmond residents Paula and Bill Cook also brought their sons, Will, 6, and David, 2, for a cheap morning of making and flying their own kites.

“I traced a tiger. I flew my kite. And I got a few candies. And we got to watch the big kites,” Will said excitedly as he described his morning at the festival.

Terry Officer, chairman of KiteFest, said 300 to 400 people attended the festival just in the first three hours of the two-day event between 9 a.m. and noon.

“Almost every kid loves a kite,” Officer said. “That’s why we have some kids in their 60s and 70s out here.”

KiteFest started as a LibertyFest tradition 19 years ago under the direction of John Wagner. About 15 years ago, Dave Burns, Noel Nester and Officer took over the festival and about 12 to 13 years ago Officer and his wife, Francie, took over.

Officer said more than 20 volunteers came from all across the state, including Duncan, Stillwater and Tulsa to help with KiteFest.

Richard Dermer, owner of the original Hideaway Pizza in Stillwater and first vice president of the American Kitefliers Association, came out to educate children about kites.

“Kids today don’t make very many of their own toys,” Dermer said. “The kite is one of the easiest toys they can make that works that brings a sense of self-confidence.”

He said no one really knows when or where the kite originated. Dermer said one theory is that they are at least 3,000 years old and were invented in China, which also invented paper and silk and was wealthy in bamboo. Another theory is that they originated in Polynesia as a method of fishing.

“They might have spread from China to Polynesia or it might have been the other way around,” Dermer said. “No one really knows.”

Other KiteFestival offerings included candy drops, kite demonstrations, kite vendors and a night demonstration that involved kites with attached lights.



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