Dancing in the wind
Barb Neal prepares her rainbow-colored kite for launch Saturday at the Hayden kite festival. Neal and her husband Will have only been flying kites for a little over a year, but it brings them joy and sunshine after a long winter.
JOSA SNOW/Press
From left, Oscar, Kevin and Shepherd Ward launch their homemade kites, and "throw caution to the wind," Saturday at the Hayden kite festival.
Steve Rezac struggles to release his homemade rokkaku kite from a tree, after it diverted from its course slightly in a light gust at the Hayden kite festival Saturday.
A stacked kite twists in the wind as it takes to the air in the annual Hayden Kite Festival at Broadmoore Park.
HAYDEN — Barb Neal let the breeze grab her rainbow-colored kite Saturday at Broadmoore Park in Hayden.
“You’re never too old to fly a kite,” Neal said.
She came to the Hayden Kite Festival for an excuse to get outside, because, as a senior, it can be hard to find those, she said. She joined dozens of Hayden residents to watch all kinds of kites dance in the wind, from homemade to rokkakus (hexagon shaped) to three-dimensional, stacked, and everything in between.
Passionate experts and adventurous novices alike filled the air with colorful kites to compete for prizes or just to partake in the hobby with friends.
Steve Rezac started making kites in 1996, the year his brother, a kite and drone hobbyist, died. Rezac learned to repair kites so he could fly his brother’s kite without worrying about breaking it. Then he started making them and, later, selling them before eventually flying them professionally until he had more than 400 homemade kites.
Now, he’s retired and flies them casually with his family. He likes to watch the kids light up. He’s whittled his collection to 200 favorites and brings a handful of them out when the weather is right. Rezac didn’t enter the kite festival competition in which judges selected winners from six categories.
Over 70 people entered, and roughly 200 people attended to watch and enjoy.
The event’s winners were Hank Crow for Crash and Burn, Keaton Chesley for Biggest Tail, Samuel Montel for Judge’s Pick, Hadden Crow for High Flyer, Oscar Ward for Best Homemade and Mike Fisher for Best in Show.
The city of Hayden has been hosting kite festivals for about 14 years. The festival was scheduled for earlier in May but was postponed due to rain. The weather Saturday was everything anyone could ask for — about 80 degrees with a fair breeze.
Staff from the city of Hayden brought snacks, sponsored by TDS Fiber, and Aspen Homes sponsored kites to raise awareness of children suffering from child abuse.
They also brought their families out to enjoy the day and the perfect weather.
Hayden recreation coordinator Jen Arrotta marveled at each kite as she registered families and checked people in for the festival.
“Kites have come so far,” she said.
