DETROIT – This Sunday the Detroit Kite Festival will converge on Belle Isle in a colorful display of community, culture, and intergenerational play.
Guests of all ages are invited to bring, make, buy, or borrow a kite, or to simply relax with friends and neighbors for a dazzling day in Detroit. The Detroit Kite Festival will be setting eyes to the skies on Sunday, July 15, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Belle Isle.
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The Detroit Institute of Arts Education Studio will again host the Kite Making Tent for kids. Guests young and old are encouraged to tinker, play, and invent in the Will It Fly? Tent, or to learn about kites and reflect on kite flying memories in the Book Nook. Detroit’s own high-flying legends, the Windjammers Kite Team, return to perform their mesmerizing synchronized kite show, and the festival’s volunteer Kite Crew will be on standby with kites to try for yourself.
New this year, the Detroit Kite Festival is pleased to partner with Michigan Philharmonic to bring a musical backdrop to kite flying, sponsored by Ally Financial. Guests can expect a full showing by the Michigan Phil, set to perform from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
“The orchestra performs free outdoor summer concerts throughout SE Michigan each year,” explains Beth Stewart, Executive Director of the Michigan Philharmonic. “This festival will be one of the most fun events in Detroit!”
Another essential component of the day is the organizations represented within the festival’s welcome tent. Both Next Gen America and Breathe Free Detroit will host information tables for their respective causes, highlighting another way attendees can engage.
"There’s a special kind of appeal about the kite festival because it’s a nudge to slow down, and connect, both with people and with nature,” explains kite enthusiast, Katie Hearn. “If there’s a chance that being out here together flying kites can mean we’re also talking about the quality of the air we’re flying in, that’s a beautiful bonus."
Many local food vendors will be on hand to sustain the day, with food and drinks provided by Drifter Coffee, Tonic and Juice, Sisters on a Roll, Hot Doggin’ It, The Rolling Stoves, Crepes Day’Twah, Detroit Pop Shop, and Tacos Don Gato. Guests are also welcome to pack a picnic, and free water bottle filling stations will be available across the festival grounds to help flyers beat the July heat. Finally, the most anticipated appearances of the festival, however, are the thousands of kite flyers who experienced the inaugural Detroit Kite Festival and are now returning for the second year, some with kites in tow. Nearly 3,000 attendees were estimated to be in attendance for the 2017 launch, and organizers are anticipating a similar showing.
“We are so excited to bring back the Detroit Kite Festival after a wildly successful first time. Kites are a platform to bring Detroiters together, to celebrate history and culture, and to engage with others. We are grateful to have such a supportive community and willing partners to make this the collaborative festival that it is,” said Margo Dalal, Director.
ABOUT THE DETROIT KITE FESTIVAL
Detroit Kite Festival is a is a volunteer-run 501(c)3 non-profit. The Detroit Kite Festival is produced in partnership with Belle Isle Conservancy, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, and is sustained by public donations. Detroit Kite Festival uplifts kite flying and creation as a platform for radical inclusion, communal play, shared healing, and the celebration of culture and history. Detroit Kite Festival was founded after winning the inaugural Belle Isle SOUP grant in 2016, a partnership of the Belle Isle Conservancy and Michigan Department of Natural Resources. In 2017, Detroit Kite Festival launched a funding from a Patronicity crowdfunding campaign and received a matching grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.