Hundreds of participants come from all over to join in the fun at this quaint, not so little event! Members of the Richmond Air Force, W.A.C.K.O.S. and Wings Over Washington Kite Clubs gather to collectively organize all sorts of fun kite related events. Big Kite demonstrations, Kite building and flying contests, bol races, and the very popular rally around the flag events are all choreographed by the kite professionals of Kitebus Festivals, Terry Murray and Will Smoot, who is also the chief event organizer. Each of the kite club members worked together as always to continuously wow the crowds and keep the excitement going.

The only issue that unfortunately continued to pester the event was the multiple rain showers that peppered us off and on through the weekend.
The kite field would fill up with participants, the wind would come up, the kites would go up for a while, then the clouds would move in and bring showers with them successfully clearing the field only to have the sun come back out along with flyers to begin the cycle again.

There were over a dozen vendors adding to the festive atmosphere along with our buddies with Sky Jewels Kites who offered a great selection of Skydog kites that all flew awesome in the variable conditions of the weekend.

Everyone loved to sky their kites out using all the line they could.
I would have taken more pictures of kites in the air but everyone sent them too high to get good shots!

I spent some time showing folks how to quickly bring in a kite when the threat of a storm comes through and had numerous grateful students.

The fun continued on Saturday nite when the Beech Dance Party took place across the street from the kite field complete with sand to dance on while Kitebus Festivals provided the tunes and a nitefly took place on the kite field.

Then after the event on Sunday nite the kite flyers were all treated to a cookout at one of the beautiful local parks nearby.

The hospitality, friends, and good times at this event have all had me coming back for the last 4 years and I look forward to making it back next year as well.

Thanks to Jim, (my ride) and The 3 Musketeers for making my trip so awesome!

See you next time at the Beech!!

The weekend skies offered light winds and everything from pouring rain to patches of blue sky as attempts were made at flying huge sea creatures, deltas and foils along with featuring stunt kite demos and Skydog Kite lessons, games, kids kite making and contests.

We had great attendance on both days despite the constant threat of rain each day. Thanks to all that were involved the crowds remained entertained and enthusiastic to enjoy flying at one of the birthplaces of flight!

There were plenty of Skydog Kites in the air, a site we all LOVE to see!
It was so nice to meet so many new kite flyers and get them started... where it all started!

The trip home turned into a rescue mission as I wound up bringing home a bunch of maxi sized kites from a "Serious Kiteflier" buddy's broken down vehicle... was more than happy to help out my friend of 25 years!

Thanks to KHK, Larger Than Life Kites, RAF, WOW and The Wright Brothers Memorial for yet another awesome kite festival! See you there next year!

See our post at Skydog Kites on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/skydogkites

This was where I first started flying stunt kites and remains what I call my go to spot for vacation flying. (I actually started out by giving hang gliding a whirl and decided that might be a bit too expensive... HA!)

For 30 years now kite enthusiasts have gathered on the dune to celebrate the incredible contributions Francis and Gertrude Rogallo have brought to flight with their invention of the flexible wing which led to inventions such as the hang glider, ultra-light aircrafts, and two line sport kites.

http://www.rogallofoundation.org/

This years event brought a healthy enough breeze on both days to enable one of the biggest kite displays seen for years!

Mel, the Blue Whale from Larger than Life Kites was on hand as well as dozens of other awesome big creatures along with Skydog Kites once again rockin the sky with our Big Dog Series kites.

The wind blew perfectly both days and the dunes were as crowded as they've ever been with onlookers checking out the spectacular display.

Music was provided by Kitebus Festivals with Terry Murray announcing and kite lessons and demonstrations took place throughout the weekend.

Meanwhile our host, Kitty Hawk Kites provided lots of helpful staff on the dune and held kite making workshops and a free jazz concert with the Air Force Jazz band down at the store.

Many thanks to John Harris, Amanda and her team of kite handlers for making this such a pleasurable event.

I look forward to next years journey up "The Ridge"!!