[August 27, 2012]    

Saturday evening high winds prevented the second evening balloon launch of this year's festival, but guests who came to see the balloons didn't leave unhappy. Instead they lingered on the fields along the airport's grass runway and took in the sights of some beautiful kites.

As dusk grew near, the Wisconsin Kiters Club offered a kite demonstration, making their kites dance to music.

The kiters performed to three different songs with two different sets of kites. In the first two songs, small dual-line kites with long tails took to the sky. In all there were three sets of kites flying through the air. The kites did a version of follow the leader for a while, then broke away in different directions, eventually coming back together again. They took deep nose dives toward the ground, then made sharp upturns and soared back toward the heavens.

The final two kites, a red and a yellow one, were stood on end in the field. The kiters lifted them one at a time, then landed them again, standing on their ends. The pair of kites finally took to the air and swayed across the sky in time to a romantic tune. They were also joined by a third kite with a strong resemblance to a set of eyes. It, too, danced and swayed to the sound of the music.

Pictures by Nila Smith