Kites are the universal symbol of childhood — they span generations, countries and economic striations — and the hundreds of distinctive kites that floated across the sky at the 81st annual Zilker Park Kite Festival on Sunday showed the beauty of these uncomplicated delights.
“A kite is very cross-cultural ... and that’s what’s a big pleasure for us to see,” said Bunnie Twidwell, co-chair of Zilker Park Kite Festival Committee for the Exchange Club of Austin. “There is such a diverse happening, there are so many different people out there flying their kites.”
Homemade kite competitions were held for young people and adults, with awards for the sturdiest kite, the smallest kite and the most unusual kite.
“Kites are a perfect blend of art and engineering, and there is a lot of pleasure in both of those things,” Twidwell said.
The festival began in 1929 and is now the longest running such event in the United States. Every year, the festival is sponsored by the Exchange Club of Austin and the City of Austin Parks and Recreation. Little has changed about the festival over the course of 79 years, including its original goal of promoting creativity.
Among the kite flyers was a father-son duo whose family has been competing in the festival for four generations. Pablo Ortiz III and his son Pablo Ortiz IV, both UT graduates, have been constructing and flying kites almost their entire lives.
The Ortiz family competed in the strongest kite and largest kite contests, with a 20-foot-by-18-foot entry constructed from bamboo, duct tape and black construction plastic.
Even though competition is a key aspect of the festival, the motivation behind flying kites has more to do with an unrefined collaboration between those who fly the kites and the kites themselves.
“Kiting is the ability to capture the air and control it and be a part of it for just a few seconds, and in the end, it is a beautiful feeling to know that you got that pleasure from nothing more than what Mother Nature put out here,” Ortiz IV said.
The festival captures all that is remembered from childhood: sunny skies, brisk winds and simple pleasures.
“That is what kite flying is,” Ortiz IV said. “It is just joy, pure joy.”
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