| Another fine weekend for all that attended Kortright and the "The Four Winds Festival". This is the oldest and first major kite event each and every spring. Don Brownridge is pictured awarding a parachuting bear to a lucky contest winner. Ticket stubbs were attached to parachuting bears and the prize this year was an actual bear with his own chute. |
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Ed hummel breathes new life into his "Buzzy Bee" Spikey. Winds were a little low for inflatable kites on Saturday. That did not stop Ed, Emily and Sarah from giving it a good try. I noticed Ed added a red stinger to one of the back spikes. Be very careful you don't get stung when you sneak up from behind! Note to Ed,... My Spikey will be done soon too!!!!!! |
| Irving Reid prepares one of his bears for it's next launch. The winning raffle ticket was attached to the bear. A free ticket raffle was held for all the children on Saturday and Sunday. Four Go Fly A Kite tossing parabears were given out as prizes. |  |
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Wind powered spinning windmills were a natural addition to Kortright's long time theme of alternate energy sources. Both Carlos' and Don's windmills are pictured. Kortright had set up a bubble machine and an inflatable bouncy room fan that were powered by solar panels. Very cool! |
| Taz and Goofy are paracritters and are shown taking a much needed break from parachuting. You can make out Don Brownridge and Eric Curtis behind the critters. Yeah,.... Don does get a chance now and then to fly too! |  |
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One of the newest features at Kortright is the Peregrine Falcon program. That old barn near the flying field was converted into a observatory & theatre. The observatory was set up to study the behavior of this highly protected species. Pictured is 3 year old Oscar who is originally from Manitoba. the show included a video, birding demonstrations and a chance to snap some shots up close. The girls and I truly enjoyed the show! |
| A shot of the flying fields at Kortright. Winds were light but most managed to find something to fly. It was great to see a few TKF Spitfire battling with fighter kites too. When winds picked up we managed to also launch a few bears too! |  |
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Ed, Dennis and Eddy! Sounds like a kids cartoon show. Ed Hummel and Dennis Ische are pictured with Dennis' new 9 foot Eddy. It's part of a new train Dennis has just completed. I think I recognize those signature Renegade colours! Note the huge mounds of dirt surrounding the field. The dirt will soon be transformed into grassy hills that will surround the flying field. |
| Carl Bigras holds his DoPeRo(double pearson roller) aloft. The added graphics of two rollers banging into each other is a very appropriate optical illusion. Nice work Carl! |  |
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Ellen, Emily, Sarah and Gary Mark find a nice comfortable 20ft delta to sit on. It was a great day to enjoy some much needed sunny skies! |
| By 4:30 the winds had died and we were all left with no choice but to pack away all that ripstop nylon. Most headed out to a fun outing at Kelseys for some dinner and kite chatter. Eric Curtis brought along his computer and gave us a great slide show. The show featured many of the kites Eric spotted on his recent kite trip to Italy. It was very interesting to see how various huge ground diplays of ripstop add so much colour down low. |  |