29th Annual Sunfest Kite Festival...
September 21 - 24
See the skyline of Ocean City explode with color at this weekend’s Sunfest Kite Festival,
September 21-24 on the famous downtown boardwalk. Celebrating its 29th year of fine tradition, this world class event is recognized as one of the top 100 most popular venues on the planet.
All are welcome to witness and participate in kite making workshops, kite flying games,
relays, “candy drops”, kite competitions, or just plain kite spectating. AND IT’S FREE!
In September of 1977 kite clubs from Maryland, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania and New Jersey came together in Ocean City to celebrate the First Annual Kite Festival in conjunction with Sunfest. So popular became the event that in 1988 Ocean City, MD was declared the Kite Capital of the World not only by the Mayor of Ocean City, the colorful Harry Kelley, but by none other than Maryland’s Governor Donald Schaefer.
In the early years of the Festival, kite flyers from around the world were invited to Ocean
City to attempt world records. No less than 7 records were set, in accordance with Guinness world record judging standards. The strongest pulling kite was measured at
480 lbs of vertical lift. The longest flying kite lasted over 7 days and held the record for
several years. Ocean City, Maryland still claims the record for fastest kite, set during
Hurricane Hugo, and measured by a State Trooper’s radar gun at 120 mph. A 50 foot tall box kite and 50 foot tall Rokkaku hold the records for largest kites in their category.
Of the many activities planned over the course of the four-day kite festival, it is the “Mass Ascensions” and “Rokkaku Battle” which pack Ocean City’s famous Boardwalk with spectators. During the daily mass ascensions, visitors and kite flyers alike gather on the beach at Sixth Street and on cue launch their kites. The result is a kaleidoscope of color painted in the sky. The first one hundred participants receive limited edition pins.
One of the most popular spectator activities during Sunfest Kite Festival is the Rokkaku
Battle, held on Saturday afternoon in front of the Kite Loft at 5th Street. Individuals launch Japanese kites and attempt to cut each other out of the sky. During Sunfest’s Rokkaku Battle, teams of flyers maneuver their six-sided Japanese fighting kites in an attempt to disable their opponent’s kite. Teams are comprised of three kite flyers and last year Sunfest hosted eighteen teams. This year, teams from all over the East Coast will be trying to outmaneuver last year’s winner, Mike Van Meers, from Gaithersburg, Maryland.
This is a don’t miss event for young and old. Bring your kite, a beach blanket, pray
for wind, and we’ll see you down ‘ne the ocean, Hun! And yes, bring your camera.
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