What do you do when the wind won’t blow and you want to fly a kite? Enlist some moose power, that’s what. Murray the Moose made a guest appearance at the kite festival and, after hoof-fiving with a bunch of excited children, demonstrated his ability to fly a kite even when the wind was playing hide-and-seek with the professional kite flyers.
Where are the politicians when you need them?
Ninety-nine days out of a hundred Artist Point is a great place to fly a kite. But on Saturday, May 5 the day of the inaugural Grand Marais Kite Festival the wind, which had been terrific the day before—took a breather and the day was as calm as a spotted seagull egg tucked snuggly into its nest.
All of that calmness caused concern to Twin Cities natives Mitch Kiel and his friends Richard Masak and Pam Hodges, who were at the closed-off Coast Guard parking lot attempting to demonstrate an array of large colorful kites between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The three friends are members of the American Kitefliers Association (AKA) and have been flying kites professionally for many years at kite flying festivals and national conventions across the United States, Canada and overseas in Singapore.
“Unfortunately this [lack of wind] occasionally happens at kite flying events,” said a disappointed Masak.
A piano tuner by trade, Masak couldn’t “tune” the wind into blowing 12 to 14 miles per hour, which he said was perfect for flying large kites.
At times a gust would ruffle the brightly colored streamers placed at both ends of the venue to advertise the event, and Kiel would attempt to launch a medium-sized kite, but, try as he might, it was to no avail.
Meanwhile, Pam Hodges was kept extremely busy. She was helping children make kites at the Fireweed Bike Co-op.
“Jay (Arrowsmith-DeCoux, owner of the bike shop) said we had made 75 kites so far,” a tired Hodges said as she brought lunch to the guys.
If the big kites couldn’t be raised, energetic, quick-footed children got their smaller kites into the air, laughing as they ran pell-mell through the parking lot pulling their smaller—but just as cool—kites that they had made at the bike shop. As long as the kids kept running, the kites flew.
“I had a hip replaced a year ago. The doctor said ‘no more running for me,’” said Kiel, marveling at the youthful energy on display.
Murray the Moose even moseyed in from the bush and made an appearance at the festival, much to the delight of his young fans.
At one point Murray proved that a moose, with a little help, could fly a kite!
The trio of kite makers and kite flyers, Masak, Kiel, and Hodges hope to come back to Grand Marais next year if there is another kite festival.
“We have looked at a lot of locations in the area, and this is the best place for a kite festival,” Masak said. “But,” added Kiel, “next year, if we are invited back, we would like a boat in the harbor to rescue our kites if they fall into the water.”
At up to $500, these kites are expensive. Last Saturday the kite flyers could only take the large variety of kites they brought and showed interested people who were passing by how beautiful they looked stretched out.
Sadly, on this day, the kites could only be displayed in cell phone pictures and stretched between the two gentlemen. Now if there had only been a political convention in the area. That surely would have generated enough wind to get most any kite up in the air.
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