Hundreds of people visit Lake of the Woods for annual Kite Festival

KLAMATH CO., Ore. — Families, as well as kite flying enthusiasts, came together for 4th Annual Kite Festival in Klamath County.

Despite a weekend with less wind than anticipated, hundreds of people still came together at Lake of the Woods for the festival.

“Yesterday there were cars parked out to the highway along the road,” said General Manager at Lake of the Woods Resort, George Gregory. He says people are encouraged to bring their kites out to fly on top of the thick ice of the lake.

“Most of our semi-professional kite flyers show up with a van or truck full of kites that can handle all sorts of conditions,” he said.

Gregory described Phil and Barbara Burks, a retired Portland couple who visit kite festivals not only across the nation, but across the world, “I’ve flown as far away as Saudi Arabia.”

The couple say they’ve attended all four festivals at the Lake of the Woods and they just came back from other festivals in Iowa and Texas.

“The fun thing about flying kites [is] if you’re out here on ice or on the beach, no one will approach you. But when you’re flying kites, you meet so many people,” said Barbara Burks.

The Burks brought their American Sting-Ray custom kite to fly at the event.

“This particular kite is made out of a super lightweight fabric, so it’s designed for light winds, which, now we have no wind, but it will fly when nothing else will,” said Phil Burks.

Guests at the resort were able to partake in sledding, snowmobiling, as well as ice fishing when the kites were down.

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