ENID – Within a few days after the Enid Convention & Visitors Bureau started operating in December, the staff received information about the American Kitefliers Association seeking a site for its 2012 annual convention.
“We received some information and contacted them within a week after we were created,” said Marcy Jarrett, director of the bureau created by the city of Enid.
The early efforts paid off. The board of the American Kitefliers Association, based in Walla Walla, Wash., has approved Enid as the site for the group’s 35th annual convention and competition on Oct. 1-6, 2012.
An estimated 250 kite enthusiasts, artists and competitors from around the U.S. and other countries are expected to come to Enid for the convention, said Maggie Vohs, the association’s convention manager. People from six other countries attended the 2010 convention in Seaside, Ore. The 2011 convention is scheduled Sept. 26-Oct. 1 in Wildwood, N.J.
The association with about 3,000 members rotates the convention sites between the West Coast, East Coast and middle of the country, Vohs said. The convention was in Tulsa in 1995.
Attracting the national group’s convention to Enid involved a community effort. Sites scheduled for convention use include the Cherokee Strip Conference Center, Northern Oklahoma College-Enid and Autry Technology Center.
“This is a big moment for Enid,” Jarrett said. “It shows what we can do as a team. We would not have been able to bring a national convention such as the AKA to Enid without the help of so many partners.”
Among the main components to the American Kitefliers Association accepting Enid’s bid was a building large enough for indoor kite flying – that’s right, indoor kite flying.
That brought Northern Oklahoma College-Enid on board as a partner, said Jarrett.
The college donated use of its indoor baseball facility with an area large enough to allow a 60-by-100-foot indoor competition.
“Basically they fly kites without wind,” Vohs said.
Outdoor flying fields will be provided by Autry Technology Center.
“One of the main things the association looks at in selecting a convention site is the flying field,” Vohs said.
The Cherokee Strip Conference Center will be used for banquets, meetings and educational sessions.
“Dr. Jim Strate at Autry Technology Center donating the use of their land, Raydon Leaton at NOC for their indoor facility, the city of Enid and the Cherokee Strip Conference Center,” Jarrett said. “None of this would have happened without their assistance and their vision for Enid.”
The AKA convention’s activities include educational workshops, games, displays, and the Grand National kite competitions for kite making and sport kite flying. The convention will also include the Great Kite Auction, which offers unique and hard-to-get kite products, and a retail FlyMarket for vendors, Vohs said.
Vohs describes the association’s members as hobbyist kite fliers.
“Our association’s purpose is to educate the public in the art, history, technology, and practice of building and flying kites and to advance the joys and values of kiting in all nations,” she said. “We supply our members with tools for making kites, conducting kite festivals, setting up kite clubs, tools for use in classrooms and more.”
To compete at the annual convention, AKA members will have to qualify through regional events and other competition. The indoor and outdoor competition will be open for viewing to the public.
Competition events include Sport Kites, Comprehensive Kitemaking, Fighter Kites, Daily Mass Ascensions and Traction Kiting.
The convention will provide great national and international exposure for Enid and northwest Oklahoma, Jarrett said.
“It is a great way to showcase Enid to people from around the country,” Jarrett said.
With 250 participants expected to be in town all week, the convention also is expected to bring outside spending to Enid.
“They will be staying in the hotels here, eating in the restaurants and shopping in the stores,” Jarrett said.
Downtown Enid features locally owned restaurants and retailers within walking distance of the Cherokee Strip Conference Center.
“It took the cooperation of many partners to bring this together and we will do what it takes to ensure they have a successful event,” said Debbie Campbell, general manager of the Cherokee Strip Conference Center in downtown Enid. “The award of the AKA national convention is a big step to showcase Enid as a desirable convention location.”