Enid may not have broken a world kite-flying Saturday but thousands of people had a fun time while raising money for a good cause.
The second annual Kites Over Enid kite festival raised money for Habitat for Humanity and Enid SPCA while raising awareness of the growing wind industry in Oklahoma.
Kite-flyers paid a $3 admission which raised funds for the two causes and a portion of the concessions was also contributed to the fundraiser.
“It was a beautiful day in Enid we raised some money for the wonderful organizations,” said Brent Kisling, executive director of the Enid Regional Developmental Alli-ance.
In addition to raising money for good causes, Kites Over Enid officials were also hoping to break a world kite-flying record. The current record number of kites in the air at one time is 3,710. The record was set by some school children in the Gaza Strip, said Kisling.
Kites Over Enid flew 2,439 kites Saturday. Not a world record, but not a small number by any means.
“It proves we are competing with the world,” said Kisling, speaking not only of kite-flying but the many other ways Enid is moving forward, such as wind energy.
“Our goal is to get some wind energy development in Garfield County,” said Kisling. “We have 100,000 acres under lease in Garfield County for wind energy production.”
Stan Hicks, Habitat for Humanity board member and one of the lead Kites Over Enid organizers, said he was disappointed the world record was not broken but he and other organizers will sit down and examine ways the event could be made bigger and better.
“We had good weather,” said Hicks. “We certainly could have used more wind.”
The wind Saturday was perfect for flying small kites but larger kites, such as those brought by Barry and Karen Ogletree of WhataKite in Lufkin, Texas, could not be flown Saturday.
“Those big kites can weight 150 to 200 pounds and there was not enough sustained wind,” said Hicks.
Hicks said even though the turnout was smaller than last year’s event, which was held on a week day, there were people from Guymon, Stillwater, Oklahoma City and even San Francisco at the event.
“At least we had a beautiful sunny day and a big beautiful field to fly on,” said Hicks.
It wasn’t a world-record event but any event is a success if it gets families outside and having fun together.
Kasey Griffin of Enid attended the event with her children, Brok and Megan, and her niece, Hayden.
“We bought a kite and we’re flying it. We’re having a good time,” said Griffin.
The final fundraising tally was not available Saturday as more donations will continue to come in during the week.