Blue skies, sunny with 15 to 20 miles per hour breeze -- it was a great day to fly a kite! Some 500 Grinnell residents – kids, parents, grandparents – did just that at Kites Over Grinnell sponsored by the Grinnell Rotary Club last Sat.., Sept. 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Ahrens Park.
“We could not have asked for a better day,’’ said Rotarian Bruce Blankenfeld who coordinated the event for the second year in a row. He and Dick and Sis Vogel, long-time kitefliers themselves who managed Kites Over Grinnell in the past, invited some dozen professional kitefliers to fly their huge kites all day long to the delight of the crowd.
Among them was Marion Steeves, of Skyliner Kite Club, Dieppe, New Brunswick, Canada, who drove 30 hours to get to Grinnell. She brought along a giant, colorful balloon-like kite that she made when, as a middle school teacher, she introduced the art of making a kite to her class and herself became enamored of the sport. The kids enjoyed rolling the huge kite around as Steeves kept it tethered to the ground.
But the day belonged to the kids and the young at heart. As they were greeted by Rotarians Jim Ahrens and Clem Bodensteiner at the registration table, participants were able to put their names in a bowl for the chance to win an unconstructed kite kit. The lucky winners were Clara Dillon, Jennifer Gnau, Emmett Otto, Shelbi Albertson, Bella Shook, Kinzey Kriegel, and Bobbi Finch. Anyone who did not claim their prize can claim their kite at Westside Family Restaurant from Blankenfeld.
Those who did not bring a kite were able to construct one at the Kite Hospital helped by Rotarians Michael McAllister and Zach Weiderspon, professional kiteflier Cliff Quinn of Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, and volunteers from Grinnell High School and the Grinnell College swim team.
Unbeknownst to the young kitefliers the intrepid duo Rotarians Doug Cameron and Frank Shults were roaming the field to award prizes for several categories. Among the winners were Erik Karjalahti, for highest kite flown; Maggie Leonard-Aparicio for most colorful; Samuel Phillips for youngest kiteflier; and Emma and Ava Gnau, who caught the judges’s eyes for their dancing routine while flying their kites; The adults were not to be outdone as Adam and Nikki Laug got an award for best effort when they finally launched their airplane kite after several nosedives. Each received a gift certificate courtesy of Subway. The President’s Choice Award went to Isaac Rhinehart, who received a Hyvee gift certificate.
Spotted among the kitefliers was elementary school art teacher Leon Drake whose art classes held kite-making sessions. He observed that in two years he has helped some 1,350 students build their own kites.
Blankenfeld remarked that next year, “We’ll need to find a way to get the kids who make their kites in school come to fly them at Kites Over Grinnell. That would be quite a sight.”
Also roaming the grounds was David Brierly, of Des Moines, who made sure that every kid had a “Kite Pilot” blue ribbon. David’s father, the late Rotarian Bob Brierly in whose memory this year’s Kites had been held, thanked the Rotarians for thinking of his father, who loved to fly a kite and himself won several kite awards as a young boy growing up in Newton prior to WWII.
There were other attractions as well: Rotarian Rod Rosburg provided free child identification with photo and fingerprints for parents who wanted it; Martha and Rick Mitchell headed up a game area as kids took breaks between kitef lying; food consisting of hamburger, chips, and drink was sold by a team of Rotarians headed by Jim White; a kite vendor from Chicago was on hand to sell ready-made kites; and Dave Crawford provided the sound system and music all day long.
This year’s Kites over Grinnell had been held with the support of the City of Grinnell, Ahrens Park Foundation, and Grinnell Mutual.
Next year’s Kites over Grinnell is scheduled for Sat., Sept. 29, 2018.
