Spirits were soaring on Sunday, July 12, during the eighth annual Detroit Kite Festival on Belle Isle.
“It’s a day of joy; it’s a day of whimsy; it’s a day of people being present,” said festival director Lex Draper Garcia Bey.
This free event is equivalent to a party in the sky, and that makes Draper Garcia Bey, a volunteer, overjoyed to continue the tradition. She said she loves that it gets people off their phones and living in the moment.
It’s such a relaxing festival that some onlookers could be seen just mesmerized at the variegated kites dancing against the perfectly blue sky with the Detroit skyline in the background.
With winds at a low 7 mph and gusts up to about 20 mph, kite aficionados Murray Irvin, of Ontario, Canada, and his buddy Douglas Hardy of Perryton, Texas, said it can be a challenge for some styles of kites to ride the thermals. But that didn’t stop Irvin from helping several children and adults try to launch their kites.
“I do it for the smiles,” Irvin said after he helped Davontaze Surgeon, 7, of Detroit, watch his kite fly high and his face go from frustrated to happy in seconds.
Tafari Roberts, 39, of Royal Oak, brought her young cousins to the festival and said that learning how to fly a kite was a great lesson in patience. After her cousin Jayton Ballysingh, 8, of Detroit, made several attempts running with the string with his kite refusing to lift-off before finally getting his kite to rise up and stay in the sky.
“Oh my goodness, this is like the wild west,” Jayton said as some kite strings got tangled.
Roberts said she also really enjoyed the diversity of the festival, stating: “It’s like FIFA,” referring to the World Cup soccer event currently ongoing.
Licensed therapist Chey Davis, 49, owner of Sagacity Counseling, said she was speaking to a friend who said that this festival represents freedom and the ability for all the attendees to be together in peace.
“Everyone is helping each other,” she said as she held up a kite reel full of string that a stranger shared with her.
“For me though I understand it as awe. … There is nobody better at awe than a 3-year-old. … For us to lose our inner 3-year-old … we work hard. … These are the moments we can let her out, and that is important for survival,” Davis said as she looked back up to check on her kite.
For more information and to mark your calendars for next year or to make a donation, follow the Detroit Kite Festival @DetroitKiteFestival on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Kite Festival at Belle Isle is a day of joy, whimsy for crowd
Reporting by Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
