The 2013 Kite Festival Night Glow at Overlook Park. Photo by Jim LujanLAAC News:
The Los Alamos Arts Council is presenting the 17th annual Los Alamos Kite Festival May 16-18 at the soccer fields in Overlook Park in White Rock.
Everyone is welcome to come and join the festivities and thanks to the generous funding from the event sponsor Los Alamos National Bank, the Kite Festival will continue to be free of charge.
The Kite Festival weekend kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday evening with the first concert of the Summer Concert Series featuring Zoe Muth & the Lost High Rollers.
Kite artists will be on the field with their kites on display and a night kite fly demonstration. In this event, small lights are attached to the kites before they are launched into the night sky. It is an amazing light show over White Rock.
The main festival is noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Free kite building workshops for kids will be held from noon to p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Kids are invited to build and decorate simple kites with assistance from volunteers. Kids will use both their craft and artistic skills to put hundreds of these kites up in the sky over the two-day festival. For the younger children, pre-built kites are available to decorate. A give-away is given to every child who builds or decorates a kite. The day also includes music, food and a lot of kite flying.
Other activities include the traditional Candy Drop. A bag full of candy is launched on a giant kite ready to fly over the festival field. As children look up in anticipation and chase the kite along its flight path, the bag is split open and the candy falls from the sky.
Also available at the Kite Festival is the kite hospital staffed with kite medics to mend the inevitable broken and injured kites.
Kite artists from all over the Southwest fly large shaped kites, hand-made flying works of art, demonstrate stunt kite flying and grace the field with incredibly colorful banners. For those who do not wish to build a kite, a kite vendor will be at the festival with a selection of ready-to-fly kites for purchase. In addition, food vendors will be on hand to sell a tempting variety of food and drinks.
For more information about this event, or information on how to support this and other activities presented by the Los Alamos Arts Council, call the council at 505.663.0477. The Los Alamos Arts Council also sponsors the Brown Bag series at Fuller Lodge, the Missoula Children’s Theater, the Pumpkin Glow, and two Arts and Crafts Fairs.
