Plenty of kites, but not enough wind for Wheaton to set new record

Plenty of kites, but not enough wind kept Wheaton from setting a kite-flying record Saturday.

The warm breeze from the south was not warm or breezy enough to get more than 967 kites simultaneously airborne for 30 seconds straight. More than 1,100 people signed up to fly kites Saturday at Graf Park off Manchester Road. Unofficial estimates put the kite count at around 800, but organizers plan to review video taken of the event to get a more official count.

"We'll have to go to the tape," said Steve Hanika, one of the event's organizers. "The wind did kind of die down, but we might have had enough up at the time, we'll have to see."

The event was staged as part of the city's sesquicentennial celebration going on this year. Organizers said there's nothing significant about kites and Wheaton's 150th birthday, it just sounded like fun. Initially, organizers just wanted to have people show up and fly kites together, but someone discovered a German city had recently broken the world record for simultaneous kite-flying and the event blossomed into a competition.

"I'm very, very pleased it's happening this way," said Wheaton Mayor Mike Gresk. "No matter what happens this is a fun event and it's an example of community involvement and just something we can do to bring people together."

Winfield 10-year-old Max Aronsohn bought one of the 1,000 commemorative kites ordered for the event instead of bringing his own from home. He said the new kite works well, but he needed a little luck to keep it flying.

"It's pretty easy when you get it up in the air, but the problem is it's hard trying to get it up in the air," he said. "You need more wind."

About 11:35 a.m. organizers sounded the call for participants to get their kites aloft. Guinness Book of World Records rules require the kites be up together for at least 30 seconds and that more than 10 feet of string separates the kite from the operator. There's also a one kite per person rule.

More than 20 officials were on hand to help with the count from the ground, they included school principals and church officials. Hanika said Guinness offered to send their own officials to count kites, "but it costs money."

Whatever the outcome, most kite-flyers raved about the event.

Jeremy Bierly managed to pacify both of his sons' needs at Saturday's event. With 3-month-old Zach strapped to his chest asleep, the Glen Ellyn father also managed to help his 4-year-old son Adam fly his kite.

"This is a new trick," the father said. "I didn't practice this, but Zach sleeps through anything, so when it comes to him anything's possible."