 The Wisconsin Kiters Club returned for the second year to show off
the beauty and excitement of kiting.Mike Wagner, club president,
said that having the kites in Lincoln both this and last year is due
primarily to Jim Phelan, a popular balloonist at the Lincoln
festival.
Wagner explained that he met Jim and his wife, Theresa, last year
at a festival in Wisconsin. The Phelans were there with their
balloon Good Greeph. Wagner said they spent time together during
that festival, and then a couple of weeks later he received an email
from Phelan asking if the club would be interested in coming to
Lincoln.
Wagner said the club came last year and spent Saturday afternoon
flying kites at the Logan County Airport. At that event, there was
no evening launch because of wind conditions, so the club kept their
kites up until right before the glow, and they did a kite
demonstration.
When all was said and done, they were asked to return to Lincoln
again this year.
This year was much the same scenario when the kiters arrived at
the airport on Saturday.
At the Saturday morning fly-in, the winds had been calm and
balloons had flown, but as the morning progressed, winds picked up
and continued to be strong throughout the afternoon and into the
evening.
Wagner said that though some may believe strong winds are good
for kiting, that isn’t necessarily true.
Saturday afternoon Wagner and the other club members had several
kites in the air, but Wagner said there were a lot more left in
their bags in the vehicles because the winds were too strong.
He explained that with kiting, there are safety concerns just as
there are with balloons. The larger kites are often anchored in the
ground to keep them from getting away. If the winds are too strong,
the kites can pull up the anchors and take off.
As though to prove his point, at that moment a member of the club
shouted that a kite was loose, and other members took off running
across the grass runway to try to catch it. Fortunately the kite
encountered one of the portable lights along the runway and its
impromptu journey was stopped.
Wagner said kiting is a very popular sport around the world, and
there are hundreds of clubs consisting of folks like the Wisconsin
Kiters who enjoy designing, building and flying all kinds of kites.
The Wisconsin club has approximately 75 member units. Wagner said
the memberships in the club include all the members of a household,
so, including spouses and children, the total number of people
involved in the club exceeds 200.
In the United States, the two most active clubs are the Kansas
City Kiters out of Kansas City, Kan., and the Wisconsin Kiters.
Wagner said the membership roster for the Wisconsin club includes
folks from Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Kansas.
Wagner said becoming a kiter can be a pretty expensive venture,
or not. He said many nice kites have a starting price of around $25,
but some of the intricate and complicated kites can run as high as
$2,500.
Most of the kites flown by the club are made of a product called
ripstop nylon, which is somewhat similar to parachute material.
Wagner said that in the club, there are those who make their own
kites, those who design them and have someone else make them, and
those who purchase pre-made kites.
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He said two of the major manufactures are companies called
Premier Kites and Into the Wind. He also noted that in the Wisconsin
membership are Tony and Ann Killip of Galesburg. The Killips have a
shop in the Galesburg area called Our Kites Fly Too, where they
design and sell kites.
Wagner pointed out his own creation, Baby Bertha, a blue and
white kite with long tube tails, and said it was one he had made
himself.
Another member of the club pointed out a pair of legs floating in
the air. The kite appeared to be a soccer player from the waist
down, complete with athletic shorts, knee socks and black shoes. He
explained that this is the product of a British company that
specializes in making legs.
Wagner said there is a national association for kiters, the
American Kitefliers Association, which holds a convention, and there
are some competitions for kiters.
Competitions include sport kiting and kite building, and there
are also awards for other things such as kite design.
In addition to flying their kites, once again this year the club
helped fill a gap when it because too windy for the balloon launch.
At a little after 7 Saturday evening, kites took to the skies and
"danced" to music. The kiters manning the kites kept them in the air
with two strings, one in each hand. They steered the kites into a
variety of maneuvers, including swoops to the left and right, deep
dives toward the ground that suddenly turned back upward and soared
toward the heavens, and tight loops where the tails formed perfect
circles in the sky.
At the end, the crowd, which consisted of thousands of folks
Saturday, was enthralled as they clapped and cheered for the
beautiful show.
In addition to all this, the club also offered an afternoon of
fun for youngsters as club members taught kids how to make and fly
their own kites, using basic materials like butcher paper,
lightweight wood, and of course plenty of string. LDN has separate
coverage of this activity in today’s edition.
Wagner said he and his wife came into Lincoln on Wednesday. They
spent time in town and attended some of the activities uptown on
Friday. He said they very much enjoy coming to Lincoln and are
looking forward to returning next year, as they have already been
asked to do so.
He also said he wanted to express appreciation on behalf of the
whole club to the chamber and the kite sponsors who made it possible
for the club to make the journey to Lincoln for the weekend.
According to this year's festival guide book, the sponsors who
helped bring the kites to Lincoln included Advanced Eyecare of
Lincoln, Farm Credit Services and Liberty Tax Service.
[By NILA SMITH]
Picture pages
Kites
'dance' in the skies at the Logan County Airport -- album
Wisconsin
Kiters teach kids to make their own kites
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