Kites ready to launch at Wheaton festival
Consider them the calm within the storm.
With more than 800 kites flown by kids of all ages — and skill levels — expected in the air Sunday during an afternoon festival in Wheaton, four smooth-flying and hard-turning pilots and their crafts may seem out of place.
But it’s a feeling the members of the Chicago Fire Kite Team get even when they are not at festivals and instead talking to friends about their extracurricular activity.
“They go, ‘You fly kites? Really?’’’ said team member Kathy Brinnehl, expressing the skepticism most people meet her hobby with. “Then I show them and they are like, ‘Oh, that’s cool!’ We refer to ourselves as the Blue Angels on strings but with our feet on the ground.”
On Sunday, members of the kite flying team, which attends competitions and festivals throughout the Midwest, will return for the third annual Wheaton Park District Go Fly a Kite event. Festivities start at 11 a.m. Sunday, April 17, at Graf Park along Manchester Road just east of the DuPage County Fairgrounds.
A grand launch — during which organizers hope to eclipse last year’s total of 843 kites in the air at once — will take place at 12:30 p.m. The Chicago Fire Kite Team will perform at 1 and 2 p.m.
Brinnehl said she remembers flying kites as a kid but not knowing how much more there was to the sport. As a kid, she said, she figured the draw of the activity was just seeing them in the air.
But, she says, that is also part of the reason she continues to attend the festivals.
“It’s half the reason we do what we do,” she said. “When we go to them, it’s getting people interested in the sport. It’s good, wholesome, outdoor family fun.”
“You know, when you’re a kid, you don’t understand that there is more to it,” she said. “As you get older, you get into, ‘Oh, that one is more streamlined, which means it’s quicker.’ Or you just think it’s visually attractive. Before, I had no idea you can control it.”
And can she ever.
Brinnehl has been a member of the Chicago team since 1996. When her brother Dan received a kite for Christmas, she started to learn the differences in the flying and maneuverability nuances of a single-, double- and quad-line kite.
Although Sunday’s event will be nothing more than a performance for the festival attendees, Brinnehl said the team is in constant competition, during which judges score the team in different categories such as ballet and precision.
The practice comes through to the audience, said Cathy Hetrick, a park district spokeswoman who said she remembers their performance from last year.
“They are just amazing,” she said. “It’s a great family event and it’s so fun to see the park so full. It’s great to see them there because they want to be there and not necessarily because it’s a child’s baseball game.”
Hetrick said one of the great experiences of the day is watching the kids stare in awe at the launched kites. The excitement is not lost on Brinnehl and her team.
“I refuse to grow up,” said Brinnehl, 48, who works for a bank in Chicago. “It’s just been wonderful. I really enjoy it. It’s my committed hobby.
“We all work so that we can play.”
If you go
If you go
What: Wheaton Park Districts third annual Go Fly a Kite
When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, April 17
Where: Graf Park along Manchester Road, just east of the DuPage County Fairgrounds, Wheaton
Cost: Free
Info: (630) 665-4710 or wheatonparkdistrict.com
Schedule
11 a.m. Sign-in for the grand launch; kite-making and concessions open
12:30 p.m. Grand launch
1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Chicago Fire Kite Team performances
1:30 p.m. Kids kite games