Balloon Festival kite flight moved to LCU campus on Saturday

[August 31, 2015]  LINCOLN - Visitors to the Lincoln Balloon Festival on Saturday may have noticed one major change on the horizon – the oversized kites that flew over the Airport on Friday, courtesy of Chicago Kite (www.chicagokite.com), were moved to the nearby Lincoln Christian University campus.

The kites were still visible from the airport, but professional kite fliers had moved their base of operations a few blocks away in order to comply with federal guidelines governing civilian airspace.

At the airport, a Chicago Kite tent sold small kites and other wind-powered works of art, and directed visitors toward the LCU campus for the large-scale display.

At the LCU campus families gathered to watch the professionals launch massive kites into the air, and parents brought their own kites to teach their children the fundamentals of kite flying. Kites took the form of giant seahorses, kittens, and a variety of aerodynamic gliders trailing long tails, and windsocks.

According to one professional, many more kites were held in reserve, but limits on the space at the LCU campus and the changing weather conditions meant that only a selection would fly over Saturday’s festivities. The “character” kites must fly at a low altitude, which meant both that these were not visible from the main airport areas, and that lagging winds around 2 p.m. left these friendly fliers slumping toward the ground, ready to be packed up for the next event.

Long-time kite enthusiasts will be glad to learn that the change of venue is only temporary, and the kites will return to the airport for next year’s Balloon Festival.

[Ben McBroom]