For years, I have watched the Kites Flying over the Lake in Clear Lake, Iowa. The kites are not our Grandparent’s kites from years ago. Kites were given away at clothing stores years ago, or you could buy them at the five and dime. Long gone are the days of your just plain homemade kite.
I had a dime store kite and a large balloon kite that I would fly in the country growing up. My Grandfather made an old-fashioned kite for me from small pieces of wood and paper. It worked fine, and it had tail feathers on it, also. My Father also made kites for me to fly as a kid. My Father would get free kites from the local clothing stores as a kid.
I interviewed a man that was flying a kite over Clear Lake. I told him I was impressed that his Eagle looked like a kite. His kite took off to new heights quickly. He said he started with a smaller kite but wants to get a larger one every year.
The cost of modern kites is astonishing, and it has become an expensive hobby for people that they look forward to doing every year. The man I talked to enters competitions for the most significant, swiftest, and unique kite. He had come in at first place twice. He had an extra large kite that looked like an old prehistoric bird and a kite that looked like a movie car that came in 1st.
He told me he had a total of ten kites. If the strings or something else breaks on his kite, he has a backup kite ready to fly. He started with a small kite that resembled an Owl, and he fell in love with the hobby of flying kites.
I bet he wins this year’s competition because he pays attention to quality and top-speed kites; it is his passion and part of who he is to rise to new heights every year of his life.
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