The first summer weekend in Swift Current will again be a colourful one, as the 13th annual SaskPower Windscape Kite Festival prepares to brighten the city’s horizon today and tomorrow.
Kite creations literally from around the world will be featured during the festival which runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
“We have something really unique with this festival. It’s not like any other festival. It’s really all about us,” festival organizer Shann Gowan said during a presentation to Swift Current City Council on Monday. “It’s our wind, it’s our landscape, it’s the skies we have. And it’s something really special here. They have kite festivals other places, but this one is really well loved within the kite community.”
She is again excited to be attracting a strong line-up of celebrity kite flyers and exhibitors to entertain festival visitors.
The Decorators, a Rev Team flying four line kites, are coming all the way from England to showcase their talents. Audiences will also enjoy watching the mastery of the TKO Sport Kite Team, a trio of kite flyers out of Texas.
The duo of Clara Kuhn from Birmingham, England and Sebastian Jüttemeier from Norderne are bringing a series of large kite creations to add some colour to the skies above Swift Current.
Another highlight celebrity kite flier is John Pollock from Montana, a four-time winner of the National Grand National Champion Award in kitemaking from the American Kitefliers Association, including his most recent win in 2016.
Again, there is lots for families to do at Windscape. Seven tents were set up this past Monday in advance of all the activity.
Kids activities include balloon sculpting, a bubble station, juggling, kite building, and an expanded scavenger hunt.
“We try to make it bigger and better every year. So it’ll be fun this year for sure,” Gowan said of the fun range of activities.
A full schedule of activities is listed at https://windscapekitefestival.ca/
