Idaho kiting will rise full-blown on October 5-6, 2007, the dates of the Idaho State Kite Festival. Come to Pocatello Idaho and help launch the first annual Festival this fall.

Two years ago I developed a program called The Sky’s the Limit, a series of kitemaking workshops for children all over Idaho. It has become as popular for adults as for kids. The Festival is the natural outcome of this service and contribution to libraries, museums, cultural centers, schools, service clubs, and recently to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Each workshop has had a different focus: kite history, kite science, Asian kites, Philippine kites for a Sister City, relating kite history to Idaho’s diverse population, memorial kites for military veterans, children partnering with a parent to create a kite, teachers learning kite instruction, after-school program crafts.

The sense of accomplishment is huge when participants create original artwork for their kites, assemble them, and fly them high in the sky. Many have never attempted such a project, or even had the confidence to undertake the challenge, and to build and fly a kite successfully is an exhilarating achievement both for them and for me.

My interest in kiting began as another facet of learning about my Japanese background and culture. I also donate taiko (Japanese drumming) demonstrations, lessons, and performances; and geranium bonsai classes. Kiting to me is just another folk art, to be learned and then passed on. My first kites, and my favorites, are small paper Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, and other Asian kites. After giving away several I was asked to share my kitemaking skills, and the workshops and the idea for an Idaho State Kite Festival have evolved.

A network of libraries, the local VFW, teachers, the Pocatello/Chubbuck Convention and Visitors Bureau, businesses and service clubs will volunteer to get the Festival going. Our goal is to develop additional support each year from the kiting community and the general public statewide.

Since we are inventing this Festival, it can take on any elements which lend themselves locally. We will rely on community partners for library, school, museum, and veterans hall venues; and can count on volunteers to staff the event. A bonus of these partnerships is that many financial aspects of such an event are minimized. The community businesses will be invited to bring their inflatables and company flags and sails to place around the flying field. In addition, they will learn how their store bags will be turned into kites flying their logos. It is a simple, economical and effective way to get the community involved.

The Idaho State Kite Festival’s charm will be the community gathering to build and fly kites, celebrate its special citizens, and explore its diverse history. Each year the Festival will have a cultural/historical focus such as Asian kites and their history; and a humanitarian component, such as this year’s events to celebrate a)veterans and b)breast cancer survivors. Future festivals will honor and celebrate special themes, and gather more community participants in the spirit of the Festival. The Pocatello area already celebrates such ethnic events as Welsh day, Juneteenth, International Night, African Night, Russian Night, Chinese New Year, and Japan Night, so there is a multitude of diversity to highlight in the years to come.

Until the public is hooked on kiting, the emphasis will be on FESTIVAL rather than KITE. Because Idaho’s winds are gusty rather than steady, most residents don’t know how much fun kites can be. So first, we make simple kites which are easy to fly, to build their confidence in making their own kites and being able to fly them. Most are surprised at both stages of learning! At several kite flies I actually have put kites into onlookers’ hands and introduced them to the magical allure of keeping that lovely sail in the sky! The winds can turn on a dime, ebb, flow or die away completely, so flying here has its own unique challenge. Bartz Field at Idaho State University (exit 69), the site of the Festival, has the best conditions we’ve found in Pocatello.

Local service groups such as the Idaho State University Junior Civitan Club have volunteered to make the signature kites for the special fly for breast cancer survivors. I am a breast cancer survivor, and have found fellow survivors to be the best friends and supporters a person can have. I’ve already flown kites with survivor buddies, and we found kiting to be a great group activity for survivors, families and friends.

A highlight of the Festival will be a workshop by Idaho’s own Tom Tinney of Coeur d’Alene, who will teach miniature kitemaking. Tom’s beautiful little kites are sold at the World Kite Museum in Long Beach (yes, I had to go to Washington to learn about Tom back in Idaho!). When Tom accepted my invitation, he said, “I like the idea of getting in on the first Idaho State Kite Festival!”

I read with great interest about huge and multi-dimensional kite festivals. Ours might not be like that for some years, but eventually we hope to incorporate many facets we see at other festivals - the competition flies, kite battles, special awards, food and other vendors, aerial exhibitions, and kitemaster lectures, demonstrations and workshops.

I’m toying with the idea (pun, anyone?) of having a teddy bear parachute drop, and am experimenting under the email tutelage of Michael Dallmar. No promises, but if it jells it would fit nicely into our breast cancer theme – I have shelves full of pink bears!

Luckily, Pocatello has SOME breeze MOST days and is known as Idaho’s own Windy City. So I’m counting on a perfect October wind and I hope you’ll all come join the fun! More info will be available if you contact me ( ) and on our webpage as soon as it is up and running, any day now!

     Micki Kawakami

SPECIAL NOTE: A special postal cancellation commemorating Idaho State Kite Festival 2007 is in the works and if approved, you can get your stamped envelopes or mine specially cancelled during the limited time it is available. This is a superb souvenir of the Festival. I’ll update if the application is approved.