What a string of kites last Saturday! Jonathan Smith, Staff Writer for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, and Stephen Carr, Staff Photographer, had a great article “Winds of tradition” in Monday’s paper. The front page has a super photo of Grandfather Tony Kwon helping his grandson Clay fly a kite. Here is the link for all the pictures. Here is also The Orange County Register version by Jaimee Lynn Fletcher with photos by Michael Goulding. A blog post by Long Beach Family covers the festival. (This blog covers local family things to do.)
The festival was sponsored by The Japan America Society of Southern California (JASSC) and the Up Up & Away Kite Club. It’s free to the public and attracts around 10,000 visitors a year.
Japanese Kite Master Mikio Toki visited from his home and kite workshop in Chiba, Japan, to share his kites. Mattel sponsored workshops where kids could build their own paper kites. The Japanese Taiko drumming corp Daion Taiko performed a traditional drumming show to excite the crowd.
In spite of the strong wind, it was a lot of fun!
MyGrandmaSue 