Hi, this is Arlene Hernandez from Kids.gov. I'm here at the base of the Washington Monument
at the Smithsonian Kite Festival.
[Arlene:] Thank you for meeting with us Barbara.
[Barbara:] You're quite welcome. It's nice to have you here.
[Arlene:] So what exactly is the history and the background of the kite festival here at
the Smithsonian?
[Barbara:] This is our 44th year. We've been here for quite a long time, every Spring;
and the kite festival is sponsored by the Smithsonian Associates, my office, and the
National Air and Space Museum.
And it was started those 44 years ago by Paul Garber, who was one of the early folks at
the Air and Space Museum and a real pioneer of flight. And I think he recognized that
kites are just terrific because it's a very family oriented activity. Kites can teach
us about science, about history, there have been kites used in historical events back
in the Civil War to follow troop movements and that sort of thing. So art and science
and history. And it's really good, it gets people outdoors and it's fun to go fly a kite.
[Arlene:] How did you come up with the theme this year, so what is the theme and how did
you come up with the idea?
[Barbara:] The theme is "hand craft" many of the kites, in fact all of the kites that
are competing today have been made by hand; none of them are commercially made and that's
very important to us. But because it's such and activity and we have craft tents here
where kids can make kites out of found materials and it's a good way to show people, it's recycling,
and it's also a good way to be crafty to figure out how to make a kite.
[Arlene:] And innovative.
[Barbara:] And innovative. And you'll find here today, a lot of kites are very unusual
shapes and sizes made out of all kinds [of materials], I just saw one made out of newspaper
that was braided together, which was kind of unusual.
[Arlene:] Do people come from all over the world to come fly their kites here at this
festival?
[Barbara:] They do. I'm not sure what countries are represented this year, but we've had folks
from Europe, and we've had folks from the Caribbean. In the last couple of years, we've
had master kite makers from Japan and China. We have folks from Jamaica or the Caribbean
with us today and they always have a booth and help kids to make kites.
So it really is international. I think the whole kite movementů I was talking with a
woman from China who said people were flying kites in China 6,000 years ago, so we're not
quite that old with the kite tradition in the United States, but I think it is something
that's universal and they have international kite festivals all over the world.
Our kite festival is one of the oldest and largest in the United States.
[Arlene:] Now you have different contests and competitions; can you explain what they
are and how they have to enter?
[Barbara:] Well, people just bring their kites and enter. We give them a number and we take
pictures of the kites, because we have one award called "People's Choice" and folks get
to vote on which kite they like best.
But competitors go out to the field in various groups and they have to fly the kites on their
own. Not only do the kites that, the kites have to be "fly-worthy" they have to do what
they're supposed to do.
But then beyond that, we have artistic awards. So we have innovation awards and that will
happen a little later this afternoon.
So, this morning is the competition for people who have made kites and most of these folks
are amateurs who, you know some come every year and fairly sophisticated kites and others
are kids who worked with mom and dad to make a kite out of newspaper.
And then in the afternoon we have some people who will do a "trick kite" demonstration and
really a competition. It's just a clapping of hands, but they actually kind of choreograph
these stunt kites to music.
[Arlene:] Wow!
[Barbara:] And they rotate back and forth out on the field. And then we have a Rokkaku
battle, which I believe is a Japanese tradition, where they're huge octagonal kites, 6 sides
or 8 sides.
[Arlene:] Or 3-dimensional versus flat?
[Barbara:] Well, they're flat, but they're huge. They take quite a large team, 5 or 6
people to fly them. And they actually, they battle. You try to twist your kite string
around the other one and try to make that kite come down.
Now in the old days, we don't do it here, but in the old days, the kite string actually
had glue and pieces of cut glass. So when they were going around and trying to circle
the other kite string, and they would saw back and forth and cut the kite string. And
then the competitor would be out of the competition.
[Arlene:] Wow!
[Barbara:] As I say, we don't use string with glass now, we just use regular kite string.
But we've had some fly away though, because still the lines break and we have a couple
in trees every year we have to go up and get. But it's great fun and people enjoy that.
So there's really something for everyone here today.
And kids can make kites, we have little give away kites. They can watch the competition;
they can just sit on the grass and enjoy the beautiful day.
[Arlene:] Thanks Barbara. For more information visit KiteFestival.org and SmithsonianAssociates.org.
For more fun and safe websites for kids, visit Kids.gov.