The Bristol Kite Festival

One Of The Biggest, Best And Oldest

The Bristol Kite Festival, officially the Bristol International Festival of Kites and Air Creations is just one of many International kite festivals around the world. In most cases, they are held once every year.

How can I sum up everything that this massive event is, in just a few lines? I'm going to try! The Bristol Kite Festival is...

• 2 days of non-stop wind-driven flying, art and culture, both air-based and ground-based
• a partnership between the festival and the Bristol Children's Hospital charity
• a forum for international goodwill and showcasing the world's best in kiting
• a platform for breaking world kiting records, such as 'the largest kite to fly'
• an excuse for any member of the public to go out and fly their favorite kite as part of the festival

Having existed for more than 20 years, each year tends to have the same main features as the year before. But I'm sure the organizers try to get hold of something new and even rather special each time!

You know, I had planned to do a separate section on the history of the Bristol kite festival. But, as I discovered, you might as well just visit this very detailed and well-written Festival History page that already exists!

Bristol Kite Festival Highlights

I can feel another list coming on... Here it is, a summary of some great things that were planned for what happened yesterday and the day before! Yes, after finally getting around to writing the first draft of this page about the 2007 festival, I discovered that it all happened last weekend. :-/ On the opposite side of the planet... I'm in Adelaide, South Australia, you see.

• Wallace & Gromit drew attention to the hospital charity in a special angel kite show
• large, spectacular sea-themed kites wowed the crowd, including a 30 meter long multicoloredmanta ray
• kite surfers demonstrated their extreme sport
• traditional Japanese fighting kites engaged in aerial combat
• more extreme sports - traction kites pulled buggies and land boards
• kite-making workshops were held for the kids
• a massive kite flew, in fact the world's biggest kite, the size of an Olympic swimming pool!

On that last point, did it actually fly? Hopefully it did, at some stage over the 2 days. It can't handle strong gusty wind.

An update: Here's a bunch of top-notch images of the 2009 event! See the state-of-the-art in festival kites.

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Last updated: 1 Oct 2009