The Morro Bay Kite Festival returns

Different kinds of kites were seen flying through the sky above Morro Rock Beach when the Morro Bay Kite Festival returned on April 30 after a two-year hiatus.

Acting as an announcer and organizing the whole event was Regional Director of the American Kite Flyers’ Association Glen Rothstein.

“I’m actually a serious kite flier. I’ve been flying since 1989 and I competed for a little while and then went, ‘you know what? I have more fun behind the scenes,’” Rothstein said.

He said that there’s a unique community element to kite-flying festivals that brings people to the events.

“The public is invited to join us on the field and they’re flying their kites in their designated areas along with the show kites and demos. They become part of the festival,” Rothstein said. 

The festival also featured award-winning kite fliers like Joanna Chen, who started flying kites 12 years ago.

“This is the first festival that I’ve done, and [I] actually hadn’t been flying for two years. I just never really got out to do any flying until the Friday before this festival,” Chen said.

Chen said she learned about the festival around 10 years ago.

“I forget exactly what year, probably 2012 or 13, some of the people that I had gotten to know who fly kites had been coming to this festival regularly and a couple invited me out to come out with them and just enjoy this festival,” Chen said.

The Morro Bay Kite Festival plans to return next year but no specific dates have been announced yet.