I've often said that the best kite festival is the one you are at! But that really isn't an answer.

Every kite gathering offers something special. But there are several events in the USA that we think are *extra* special.

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The AKA Convention is the best. The absolute best. The annual assembly of the American Kitefliers Association is an astounding gathering of talent, information, and good friends. It's the biggest event we have in this country. Last year, we enjoyed our 20th convention with over 550 members in attendance. Think of the Smithsonian kitemaking competitions. AKA offers the largest contest among kite designers in North America. Judges evaluate craftsmanship, design, visual appeal in flight, and handling for fourteen different styles of kites. More than 40 trophies are awarded, including a Grand Champion. This year, Pete Rondeau was named the top winner for an amazing Chinese-style centipede with appliqu�d nylon cells and custom carved connectors. Think of the Junction Kite Retreat. At AKA, we had thirty educational seminars on topics ranging from parachuting teddy bears, to buggies, kites and computers, and aerial photography. Leading experts in their fields shared knowledge with an eager audience. Presenters included Martin Lester on creative kite shapes, Charlie Sotich on miniature kites, Kurt Degner on spars, Pete Dolphin on large festival kites, Richard Gareau on kite fighting, and Roger Chewning on festival organization. Think of the East Coast Sport Kite Championships. For sport kite enthusiasts, the AKA Grand National Competition was the largest and best contested event of the year.

The AKA Convention Fliers were required to prequalify for competition by finishing in the top three places from various regions of the country. International guests were also allowed to compete. (More on that later.) Nine masters class teams took the field, making AKA three times larger than the All American event held weeks earlier in Long Beach. Think of the spectacle of Long Beach. Each afternoon began with a mass ascension. Tuesday was sport kites. We kept more than 150 in the air on one field. There weren't many organized maneuvers, but not many crashes either. Wednesday was box kites, Thursday rokkakus, Friday foils, and Saturday deltas. In each ascension, as many as 250 kites were launched. Think of the fun of Berkeley. Exhibitions and demonstrations were scheduled throughout each day. A highlight was the "Running of the Bols". In this new event, contestants race upwind pulling ten foot baskets behind them. We also flew the giant kites of Jack Rogers, and featured prominent artists like Reza, Kevin Shannon, and the Gibbeans. Think of your favorite local event. We had Rokkaku battles, fighter kite contests, children's workshops, and flying lessons for the public. In the Member's Choice competition, Pete Dolphin's newest kites was selected as the best of the year. And in our Great Kite Auction, over $20,000 was raised. We also had a kite pin display, pin contests, a kite art gallery, and a night fly. Think of the KTAI Convention. We had a kite market with dozens of stalls featuring unique kite products. Think of Fano. We had America's largest buggy races. Think of the international flavor of the Bangkok Festival. We had more than 30 overseas guests. The list goes on and on, but I think you can see the idea. Think of the AKA convention as a combination of the best kiting offered in festivals and workshops and competitions. It is also a forum for policy and issues. One of the most important meetings is the Sport Kite Symposium, which I have moderated for the past seven years. Members of the rules committees come together, not to talk, but to listen to members suggestions for changes and improvements. Over 250 people attended this year in an open exchange of opinion and strong emotion. Topics included judge certification, scoring criteria, field sizes, and recruiting more contestants. Every serious kiter should come to the AKA convention. Join our competitions, our workshops, our meetings and our fun.

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Wildwood Wildwood is an American classic. Every flier has to go to the Jersey Shore on Memorial Weekend at least once - if for no other reason than to tell stories about the greasy pizza, noise and traffic. Yes, we make fun of Wildwood, the same way we tease old friends. It's been around a dozen years, starting as the East Coast Sport Kite Championship, and growing into the Wildwood International Festival. Each year, it just keeps getting bigger and better. How big? Other festivals have an ascension of parafoils; Wildwood has an ascension of 252's and launches 30 of them! Other festivals have mega-flies; Wildwood invented the sport kite mass ballet! Other festivals fly "large" kites; Wildwood imports MegaBite - the biggest in the world - and invites people to walk inside... And maybe it's because I'm from out-of-town, but I always find the welcome at East Coast warm and friendly. New Jersey is about as far from Oregon you can get in the States, but I've been there every spring for nine years in a row. I just wouldn't miss it.

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Long Beach Washington If you love kites - if you even just like kites, Long Beach is for you. From the hard core aficionados to the weekend kite tourist, Long Beach offers something for everyone. They have giant inflatables and miniature kite workshops. Forests of banners. Big band sport kite ballet for seniors and kitemaking classes for kids. Fighter kite forays, rokkaku rumbles, and monster bashes. They have international guests. They have a museum of kites. Kite club pot-lucks. Friday fireworks. Parades and night flys. They have kitemaking competition, sport kite demos, and world records. Kite auctions. People in funny kite clothes. Three full-service kite stores. They have on-field parking, twenty-five food vendors, a beer garden, and fifty portable toilets.

They have in-door flying, out-door exhibits, and even a few barn-door kites. In fact, about the only thing Long Beach doesn't have is a motel vacancy if you happen to show up without a reservation. The Washington State International Kite Festival -- called "Wisk-If" by regulars -- is now in its 17th year. The event proceeds in a well-rehearsed routine. Hundreds of volunteers take their turn applying hourly activities to daily themes like Terrific Tuesday, Handcrafted Day, and Showtime Saturday. Everyone knows their job. Sometimes America's preeminent kite festival seems almost over-organized. Old fashioned fun flying is limited to spaces between displays. There are so many designated fields and scheduled events, that you need to wander off into the dunes to find a piece of open sky. And of course, that means you don't get to hang out in Cabana Village to talk with friends or swap pins. But did too big a menu ever keep you from a fine restaurant?? Heck no! Wisk-If is wonderful. At least once in your kiting career, you need to come. Its always the third week of August, so pick the year now, then go to the phone and start looking for a motel room.

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Kites on Ice When we first received our invitation to Madison, we thought it must be a mistake. Wisconsin? In February?? But then we noticed the name of the event -- "Kites on Ice" . As it turned out, Madison is a phenomenal event, and definitely one of our favorites. As you might imagine, the flying is held on frozen Lake Monona right in front of the Frank Lloyd Wright Convention Center. This year, attendance was estimated at 65 -75,000 which makes this one of the largest events in the country from a spectator point-of-view. Activities include indoor workshops, flying demonstrations, and exhibits. On kids day, dozens of busses bring students from around the region for auditorium programs and group flying. Each class is linked up with expert kiter on the lake. The invitation list for Madison covers fifty of the best known performers and designers in the world. The broad lake provides room for giant kites, art kites, sport kite demos, banner displays, and traction skiing. We drill holes in the surface and sink 2x4's with ropes around them for anchors. And in the middle of the field is a huge warming tent with lots of hot chocolate. At night, fireworks and kites fill the frigid skies while the Madison Philharmonic plays classical music inside. So if you are looking for a chance to meet those famous kiters you have read about, to see an incredible flying show, or attend a fine variety of indoor workshops, put Madison on your February list. The air is cool but the hospitality is warm. Just remember to wear thick socks...

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The East Coast has Wildwood and the West has Berkeley. This "mega event" combines the West Coast Sport Kite Championships with demos, displays, buggy races, and a first class single-line International Festival. Plus you get the added benefit of an incredible vista on the edge of San Francisco Bay. The organization of this three-ring circus is superb and the announcing is the best I have ever heard ... ;) All events are held in Caesar Chavez Park, an old land-fill which has been converted into a grassy peninsula jutting into the Bay. Sailboats drift by as the winds gust off the water. Crowds are the best on the West Coast. And to top things off, their award banquet is on a floating restaurant that cruises the Bay.

Berkeley

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Smithsonian

I remember one year we had to bring down all the kites because the President's helicopter was coming in for a landing across the street at the White House and our festival was in the flight path. Cool! Smithsonian was started by Paul Garber. It has been going on so long that some families have three generations of trophy winners. The event is on the Green, right at the base of the Washington Monument. Lincoln is at your back; the president across the street; and the Capitol is just up the hill. Too bad they don't fly more kites in Congress.... Unfortunately the flying only lasts one day. The focus is on kitemaking competition and everyone lines up the same way they have for 20 years. One craftsmanship judge wears a badge that says "fear me". There's a reason. But the gathering is great and the evening parties even better. For some reason, I haven't made it to Smithsonian lately. It conflicts with my annual trip to Berck, and faced with the choice, I take the sponsored trip to France rather than paying to go to D.C. But I miss it. I'll get back soon. Save me a place in line!

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For a visiting "kitemaster" (as they call us down there), South Beach, Miami , is like visiting another planet. The beach is warm and wide, and the water glistens as gentle waves lap at the shore. The sidewalk scene is a people-watching paradise. The food is great. And the people ... well they are the most beautiful people you have ever seen in your life and most of them are 95% naked. When you commute like me in from the Oregon coast - where beachgoers in summer strip down to just *one* sweatshirt - Miami becomes an exotic assault on the senses... Oh yeah - and the kites are cool too!

Miami International Miami is the closest thing we have to a European "style" festival here in the USA. And it has more international guests than any other event in this country. Each April, roughly 20 fliers from Europe and Asia join talent from across North America to put on a first-class show. The focus is on larger kites and the total sail-area lofted along a mile of beach front is astounding. And as if that weren't enough, there are sport kite demos, children's workshops, tandem buggy rides, and plenty of up-close opportunities to meet the kitemasters and their kites. If this event were held *anywhere*, it would be fantastic. But held where it is, the festival becomes just that much better. Too bad all those hard bodies out there on the sand are too busy looking at each other to realize what a great world-class show they have a few feet away.

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