As winter begins to leave North America and we get into spring, kite flyers start checking calendars and pondering which of the large kite festivals they will attend in the coming sunny seasons. One of the first festivals that comes to mind is a long running affair held on the banks of Lake Michigan, the Great Lakes Kite Festival. This year is the 18th running of this hugely popular festival and judging by the schedule of events and performers, it promises to be another memorable one. Running from May 18th to May 20th, 2007, expect to see a large variety of kites, from sport kites to huge inflatables and everything in between.

Some of the sights you can see daily will include the daily Giant Octopus and Trilobyte launch and demos by some of the area’s best kite teams and individuals, including Chicago Fire and former AKA National Champion Lam Hoac of Ontario, Canada. Also scheduled to be in attendance are Sam and Anne Ritter, the King and Queen of huge stacks of Revolution Quad lines kites. And making their first appearance at the GLKF will be one of North America’s premier Quad kite teams, iQuad, featuring 4 flyers from both the US and Canada. In conjunction with this, they will be holding a Rev mega-fly at some point during the weekend with as many as 16 revs in the air at once, flying as a coordinated team. There will be demos by all of these people and more across the entire festival weekend. You can even catch some kiteboarding demos out on the lake itself, with the Naish Team putting on a show all weekend long. You may even want to try it, provided you can brave what I suspect will be some pretty cold water. Add onto this some fighter kite activities and you’d be hard pressed to find an end of kiting that is not represented at this festival!

Each evening of the festival brings a different happening, with Friday night being an indoor kite competition, featuring some of the most talented indoor flyers in the country. This takes place close to the beach at White Pines Middle School. Saturday evening features a night fly down at the beach so be sure to bring lit up and apparently, spotlights are encouraged as well. With a little wind, these night flys can be a dramatic memory of the festival. You can also find a large Family Fun Tent, filled with Arts, Crafts and games to keep small ones entertained and amused. It also acts as a fundraiser for The Children's Leukemia Foundation of Michigan, who take care of both children and adults with leukemia and other related diseases. And, if nothing else, you can certainly tire them out by setting them free in the Moonwalk and Inflatable Obstacle course.

The festival is sponsored by Prism Kites, Revolution Kites (both of who will have factory representatives with dedicated demo fields) and Mackinaw Kites and Toys, with a store located right in Grand Haven. For further information on where you can book a stay at Grand Haven for this event, check the following web sites, and check Mackinaw Kites and Toys website for up-to-date schedule and festival information. I’m hoping this will be the year that I finally make it to this festival; it looks like a great time for everyone.