Kite fliers blow in from all over for festival

LONG BEACH -- Norman Anderson gently placed his 6-foot-wide, triangular kite on the hard sand at just the right angle to the wind so it wouldn't prematurely lift off before he could stretch out the full 60-foot length of the dual control strings. The winds, he guessed, were gusting close to 20 knots across the beach, so the kite had to be sitting just perfectly or it might fly away on its own.

After agonizing over the placement for about 10 minutes, Anderson finally was able to move away from the kite with the controls in hand. As soon as he was in position, he jerked back on the two hand controls and the kite shot straight up. It started to gyrate wildly as he struggled to gain control. At that point it was man against kite, and in a strong wind sometimes the kite wins.

Anderson, a soft-spoken high school social studies teacher from Great Falls, Mont., was able to rein in the bucking kite and began to maneuver it around the sky. He assured me that he was strictly an amateur. His wife and son were flying similar kites nearby.

Beginning Monday on the sand of Long Beach, Anderson's scenario will be played out over and over again as more than 100,000 kite fanatics and onlookers flock to the Washington State International Kite Festival. The annual event, which attracts kite fliers from all over the world, is the state's premier kite festival and runs through Aug. 22. One kite publication has voted the event the best kite festival in the world.

The Long Beach Peninsula, in the extreme southwest corner of the state, just north of the mouth of the Columbia River, boasts 26 miles of wide, flat ocean beach, perfectly suited for a kite festival. Better yet, the wind is about as predictable as it can get anywhere on the coast. During the summer months the wind generally blows steady in the 6 to 20 mph range, perfect kite-flying conditions.

I've always wondered what would happen to a kite festival if the wind refused to blow, as it did when I arrived on the beach last Wednesday. There wasn't a breath of wind. Jane Holeman, festival chairwoman for the past six years, told me that a windless kite festival is her worst nightmare, but she added that the odds are slim it would stay windless for the entire seven-day run.

The festival is beginning its third decade and hasn't run out of wind yet. Holeman said that last year the weather and wind conditions were perfect the whole week. To my delight and the delight of the kite fliers on the beach, the wind picked up to kite-flying levels on Thursday.

Despite the predictable wind, the weather in general on that part of the coast is unpredictable. In 2001, a freak storm during the festival hammered the beach for 24 hours with high winds that blew down tents and soaked everything but the kite fliers' spirits.

Holeman said there can be too much wind, which is a concern for planners as well. Flying kites in winds at or above a steady 20 mph can get a little dicey and discourages kite fliers who don't have sturdy enough kites to handle the wind. Last Friday a storm similar to the one during the kite festival three years ago lashed the coast for most of the day with high winds and heavy rain.

Each day of the festival, different events are featured, many of which are family oriented. Monday morning, for instance, ribbons will be awarded in the "kite train" category for the most beautiful and unique in the four categories of trains. (Trains are kites that are connected to each other in a string.) Later in the day, the World Kite Museum, based in Long Beach, will serve as host for a train workshop at its kite-making tent near the beach.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

The children and grandchildren of Gladys Davis from Ellensburg, third from left, gather around a campfire on the beach last week. The family rents a house every year in Long Beach for a family reunion.

Wednesday is the patriotic day when fliers launch hundreds of red, white and blue kites. Also 20 or so senior "fighter kite" fliers will go at each other in a competition in which they have to perform a certain set of maneuvers with their tiny, quick, single-line kites against the clock. Promoters say these guys know no fear.

The finale on Aug. 22 is the huge family kite fly-in, where everyone who is able is encouraged to fly a kite -- all at the same time. The beach can get pretty crowded and occasionally kites become tangled, but overall it's quite a spectacle and great fun for all.

The main beach in front of the town will be off-limits to motor vehicles during the event. Traffic in town can become congested at the south and north beach access points, which are blocked off to vehicle traffic, as well during the festivities. Parking, too, can be problematic, especially on the weekend.

Promoters told me that accommodations in Long Beach and surrounding communities such as Ocean Park and Ilwaco, including private campgrounds and RV parks, still are available during the early part of the week, but don't plan on any nearby accommodations being available Friday through Sunday. Cape Disappointment State Park near Ilwaco just south of Long Beach is the largest campground in the region, with camping and utility sites as well as yurts. Reservations are accepted either by phone or online.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

The wide, sandy stretch at Long Beach is a pleasant place for a walk day or night.

The tiny World Kite Museum just off the main drag in Long Beach is serving as host to a colorful display of hand-painted silk Chinese kites in all shapes and sizes, which were coordinated with its sister museum, Weifang Kite Museum in Shandong Province. The exhibit, which is scheduled to run through next spring, includes dragon kites -- some with eyes that spin when the wind hits them just right -- sea creatures and insects. The $3 admission includes a kite-making lesson and kite. The museum is in the middle of a drive to raise money to move to a much larger building nearby.

Long Beach each year seems to offer more family, touristy kinds of entertainment and has become almost a carbon copy of the carnival-like atmosphere of Seaside, Ore., during the summer. Bumper cars, a go-kart track, a merry-go-round and a couple of arcades round out lively entertainment selections for kids as well as adults. A variety of seafood restaurants, a pizza parlor or two and even a new McDonald's provide a good cross-section of food items for all ages.

After a morning on the beach with kite fliers-- and in need of an energy boost -- I doggedly waited behind 15 other customers in line for more than 10 minutes to get one scoop of Huckleberry Delight at Scoopers, an ice cream shop near the main beach.

A woman next to me in line gasped when she saw the size of the scoop. I have a feeling the line may get a little longer during next week's festival.

If you go

• Washington State International Kite Festival (Aug. 16-22) -- www.kitefestival.com

• Long Beach Peninsula -- 800-451-2542; www.funbeach.com

• Cape Disappointment State Campground -- Reservations, 888-226-7688; $7 charge per reservation; www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Cape%20Disappointment&pageno=1.

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