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Hi,

 

I am involved with the Dean Recreation Reserve and as part of reinvigorating the Dean Community I thought it would be a good idea to hold a kite festival.

 

I'm not sure where to start, but I can tell you about Dean and my ideas. Dean is halfway between Ballarat and Daylesford, and is notoriously windy. They tried to put a wind farm on the hill up the road as it seemed to be a good spot according to the wind atlas. The Dean Recreation Reserve is a pretty exposed big oval (5 acres?) and I think it is a good spot to fly kites. I have scheduled the Kite festival for Sunday 15th of September. I have also got a $500 grant from the Hepburn Shire Council. I am thinking for this first festival, as it will become an annual event, to keep it pretty small, and not really sure about what else I want to do. I want kids 7-15? to make and assemble kites. I want everyone to learn about the history of kites. I want everyone to have a fun day flying kites. I've had a look at the Rosebud kite festival website and it all looks pretty full on, guest kiters from all over the world and stuff...

 

Hoping you can help me figure out where to go with this plan. I would be happy to come down to Geelong and have a look at some point and talk with you or someone about it all.

 

Cheers,

 

Liz

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Hi Liz,

There are a few other places that put on a kite festival, they all seem to have other things happening at the same venue - probably to keep everybody interested

Marulan festival http://www.marulankitefestival.com/

The Harden kitefestival used to close off the dirt runway and the buggies could use it for speed demos http://hardenkitefestival.org/

Redcliff is pretty famous near to Brisbane as being a big event http://kitefest.com.au/

Emu Park as well https://www.facebook.com/festivalofthewind

I'm sure if you contacted the committe of any of these events, they would be happy to answer any questions.

The most enjoyable festival from a flyers perspective was one where there were for separate areas - Single line kites, Dual line kites, Quad line kites, and traction kites in a huge area to "show off" in.

BobM

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Hi Liz,

I'm relatively local to you and would be happy to come over the reserve and put a kite up - I don't have any experience in kite festivals, but I will be able to tell you how practical the Dean reserve will be for kite flying. I can see that it's surrounded by trees which will interfere with the wind at lower levels but might not be too bad in a north to north west wind direction. Looks like it might be just big enough (assuming it's the one behind the pub) to run a kite buggy back and forth. I can also be there on the 15th and would be happy to put up some kites/tails and even do a bit of kite aerial photography.

There are also a couple of kiters in the district with heaps of experience (which is not to call them really old or anything :D ) - I'll send them a pm and let them know about this.

If you'd like to meet up, give me a bell on 0417 327 908.

Cheers - John.

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Hi Liz,

Google kites 4 kids and try contacting them as they might be able to help you out.

Hopefully one of the organizers of the Adelaide Kite festival might see this and post up some ideas for you as they put on a great festival each year.

Keep us updated about your festival as I'm sure that there may be a few people willing to help put on a display for you.

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Wow! Thanks guys. Jo Baker from Kites for Kids is going to come and do a workshop and demonstration for us on the 15th of September! I'm also wondering if I should get access to a paddock for some of the more extreme kiters. I don't think at this point it will be a competitive day, just heaps of fun. I'll be contacting the Hepburn Shire for precise insurance requirements (though the space is shire owned and they already have insurance). Jo said I probably need to think about other sorts of activities, and the tennis courts are pretty close, but a tennis tournament seems a bit lame! I'll be talking to the committee next week and see what they think. I suppose publicity is next...although it seems that there is a fair bit of word of mouth among the kite flying enthusiasts!

Liz

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Hi Liz,

I don't know what sort of township you have in Dean but here are a few ideas for things to run in conjunction with the kite festival if the aim of the festival is to bring the local community together and depending upon how much room is available:

* carboot sale/ garage sale/ clearing sale/ market stalls

* local CFA truck on display - may be a good time of year for them to raise bush fire awareness

* food stalls ie local bakery, cafe or service club with sausage sizzle

* local school or area secondary school band or other local community band to provide entertainment

* dog high jump competition

* local talent competition

Good luck with the festival

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  • 1 month later...

John, your efforts there today were great.

Cheers Mick. But it was really only an excuse for me to play with all my toys!! I think one of the real standouts of the day was your buggying display and your ground tethered parachute - even the bloke with the samurai sword down his t-shirt :eek: seemed to enjoy playing with that. Is it still in one piece?

er..... and why would you bring a samurai sword to a kite festival? (not sure if it was real or not as I never actually saw him draw it... :dontknow: )

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Thanks, John, we couldn't have done done it without you! A great day was had by all with over 200 people attending and 51 kids through the kite workshop. Also thanks to John Baker from kites for kids. Great video too. I reckon we'll have it again next year! Got my kites back this morning...

Cheers. Liz

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  • 11 months later...

A beautiful day and a pretty large turnout for the 2014 Dean Kite Festival. Very little wind though... it would come up to 6 knots for five minutes then die away. Lots of kite making for the kiddies and they looked like they had a ball running around with their diamond kites. Even though the wind wasn't much chop, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Here's some fotos:

post-5961-14336635082404_thumb.jpg

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Neil found a clever way to keep his kite up all afternoon...

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Neil's very impressive Squid..

post-5961-14336635086011_thumb.jpg

post-5961-1433663508682_thumb.jpg

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  • 1 year later...

Hi Guys! 

I hope you had a great year kiting! The Dean Kite Festival is back! Scheduled again for Father's Day September 4th. The sun will be out and the wind will be blowing from the north west.

I hope you guys can come and support us again, I love your big kites and one day I want to have a go in a buggy.

cheers

Liz

0412674827

Oh, can you upload some photos to the dean recreation reserve Facebook page? Thanks

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